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Abstract
Ambivalence and misconceptions surround the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). Relying upon the literature on multilateralism, state–IGO relations, regionalism and security governance, this study examines: which goals Russia is pursuing in its CSTO policy; how Russia engages with its individual members within the organisation; how Russia uses it in five foreign policy situations and with which results. It shows that Russia’s CSTO policy is more mixed and complex than is usually assumed. Russia uses the CSTO in pursuit of unilateral ambitions but it is also searching for partners. Russia’s policy has resulted in the formation of instrumental multilateralism within the CSTO.
I would like to thank Anastasiya Raevskaya and Nadezhda Matsakova for their support in research and Elizabeth Hormann for making the language more eloquent, as well as two anonymous referees for their valuable comments, and the Europe-Asia Studies editorial team for their editorial guidance.
Notes
1 See, for example, in Tajikistan, Jane’s Intelligence Review (Citation2012).
2 ‘Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, Approved by President of the Russian Federation V. Putin on 12 February 2013’, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, available at: http://mid.ru/bdomp/ns-osndoc.nsf/1e5f0de28fe77fdcc32575d900298676/869c9d2b87ad8014c32575d9002b1c38!OpenDocument, accessed 20 June 2013.
3 The author conducted a series of interviews in Moscow with Russian scholars and policymakers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and CSTO Secretariat in 2012 and 2013.
4 Author’s interview with an anonymous expert, Moscow, 13 August 2012.
5 Author’s interview with an anonymous expert, a former diplomat, Moscow, 13 September 2013.
6 At that time, militants from Afghanistan tried to infiltrate the territories of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan. For more information see Kazantsev (Citation2008), Nikitina (Citation2009).
7 Author’s interview with an anonymous expert, Moscow, 13 August 2012.
8 Author’s interviews with anonymous NATO officials and experts from NATO national delegations, NATO headquarters, 16–20 April 2012.
9 There is also a multilateral forum for both NATO and CSTO countries (except Tajikistan) to engage in dialogue—the Euro–Atlantic Partnership Council. However, serious issues are not resolved within it.
10 Interview with Dmitri Danilov, Head of the Department for European Security Studies in the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow, 12 September 2013.
11 Author’s interview with Andrey Kazantsev, Head of the Analytical Center at the Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO), Moscow, 11 September 2013.
12 ‘Russia-led Security Bloc Turns Away from NATO towards China, Chief Slams West’, Johnson’s Russia List, 17 June, available at: http://russialist.org/russia-led-security-bloc-turns-away-from-nato-towards-china-chief-slams-west/, accessed 10 October 2014.
13 See also Flikke (Citation2009).
14 Author’s interview with an anonymous Russian diplomat from the CSTO subgroup in the first Commonwealth of Independent States Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
15 CSTO peacekeepers could be used outside the CSTO region but only in peacekeeping and not peace enforcement operations.
16 Author’s interview with an anonymous Russian diplomat from the CSTO subgroup in the first Commonwealth of Independent States Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
17 Author’s interview with an anonymous expert, a former Russian diplomat, Moscow, 14 August 2012.
18 ‘Polozhenie o proyadke provedeniya konsultatsii mezhdu gosudarstavami-uchastnikami DKB’, 28 March 1997; ‘Poryadok koordinatsii vneshnei politicheskoi deyatel’nosti gosudarstv-uchastnikov ODKB’, 28 November 2001; ‘Polozhenie o poryadke funktsionirovaniya mekhanizma koordinatsii vneshnei politicheskoi deyatel’nosti gosudarstv-uchastnkiov ODKB’, 19 November 2003. See the list of documents, adopted in 1992–2013, available on the official CSTO webpage: http://www.odkb-csto.org/documents/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=133&sphrase_id=18550, accessed 22 August 2016.
19 ‘Deklaratsiya glav gosudarstv-chlenov Organizatsii dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti’, 15 May 2012, available at: http://news.kremlin.ru/ref_notes/1219, accessed 15 September 2013.
20 ‘Zayavlenie Respubliki Armeniya, Respubliki Belarus, Respubliki Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzskoi Respubliki, Rossiiskoi Federatsii, Respubliki Tadzhikistan, Respubliki Uzbekistan o situatsii vokrug dogovora ob obychnykh vooruzhennykh silakh v Evrope’, available at: http://mfa.gov.by/press/statements/c44abdd3975facc4.html, accessed 10 September 2013.
21 ‘Zayavlenie ministrov inostrannykh del gosudarstv-chlenov Organizatsii dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti’, Bishkek, 27 May 2013, available at: http://http://www.mid.ru/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/108526, accessed 12 November 2013.
22 Author’s interview with an anonymous CSTO official, the CSTO Secretariat, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
23 See also Putin (Citation2011), Dragneva and Wolczuk (2013).
24 Author’s interview with an anonymous expert, a former diplomat, Moscow, 13 September 2013.
25 Author’s interview with an anonymous expert, Moscow, 15 August 2012.
26 The relevant documents (The concept of peacekeeping activities; Plans for creation of a peacekeeping force) were ratified in 2007. The agreement on peacekeeping activities of the CSTO came into force on 15 January 2009. Not all CSTO states were interested in developing this area of activity (Nikitina Citation2009, pp. 45–7).
27 Author’s interview with an anonymous CSTO official, CSTO Secretariat, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
28 The Collective Rapid Deployment Force comprises about 4,000 troops consisting of Kazakhstani, Kyrgyz, Russian and Tajik units (Yurgens Citation2011).
29 See ‘Ustav Organizatsii dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti’, Article 12, CSTO Charter, 15 May 1992, available at: http://www.odkb.gov.ru/start/index_aengl.htm, accessed 15 September 2013. See also Rules of Procedures (Pravila protsedury) of 2004, Rule 14, available from the CSTO Secretariat, available at: http://www.odkb-csto.org, accessed 22 August 2016.
30 ‘Stenogramma zasedaniya Gosudarstvennoi Dumy’, 7 October 2011, available at: http://transcript.duma.gov.ru/node/3512/, accessed 10 September 2013.
31 Author’s interview with an anonymous CSTO official, the CSTO Secretariat, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
32 Author’s interview with an anonymous CSTO official, the CSTO Secretariat, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
33 ‘Statement by the representative of the Secretariat of the CSTO at the 2010 Annual Security Review Conference’, 14–16 June 2010, PC.DEL/535/10/Rev.1, 18 June 2010, available at: http://www.osce.org/cio/68565?download=true, accessed 15 September 2013.
34 ‘Statement by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan’, MC.DEL/38/08, 4 December 2008, available at: http://www.osce.org/ru/mc/35379?download=true, accessed 10 September 2013.
35 Author’s interview with an anonymous official at the Department of European Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow, 17 August 2012.
36 ‘Zayavlenie ministrov inostrannykh del gosudarstv-chlenov Organizatsii Dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti’, Bishkek, 27 May 2013, Document 1062-27-05-2013, available at: http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/ns-rsng.nsf/3a813e35eb116963432569ee0048fdbe/44257b100055e87744257b780064c692!OpenDocument, accessed 15 September 2013.
37 ‘President Medvedev’s Interview with BBC Television, Sochi, 26 August 2008’, available at: http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/1228, accessed 16 September 2016. See also Allison (Citation2009), Kropatcheva (Citation2009).
38 ‘Dogovor o kolletivnoybezopasnosti’, Tashkent, 15 May 1992, available at: http://www.odkb-csto.org/documents/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=126, accessed 10 September 2013.
39 ‘Deklaratsiya moskovskoi sessii Soveta kollektivnoi bezopasnosti Organizatsii Dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti, Moskva’, Document 1323-09-09-2008, 5 September 2008, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/supplement/204, accessed 20 August 2014; ‘Zayavlenie ministrov inostrannykh del gosudarstv-chlenov ODKB v svyazi s sobytiyami v Yuzhnoy Osetii’, Document 1308-05-09-2008, 4 September 2008, available at: http://archive.mid.ru//bdomp/ns-rsng.nsf/3a813e35eb116963432569ee0048fdbe/c325749c004f2933c32574bb002c0dcc!OpenDocument, accessed 20 August 2014.
40 ‘Deklaratsiya moskovskoi sessii Soveta kollektivnoi bezopasnosti Organizatsii Dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti, Moskva’, Document 1323-09-09-2008, 5 September 2008, available at: http://www.kremlin.ru/supplement/204, accessed 20 August 2014; ‘Zayavlenie ministrov inostrannyh del gosudarstv-chlenov CSTO v svyazi s sobytiyami v Yuzhnoy Osetii’, Document 1308-05-09-2008, 4 September 2008, available at: http://archive.mid.ru//bdomp/ns-rsng.nsf/3a813e35eb116963432569ee0048fdbe/c325749c004f2933c32574bb002c0dcc!OpenDocument, accessed 20 August 2014.
41 Some media outlets reported that Alyaksandr Lukashenko had promised to recognise these states; in return, Russia would extend to Belarus a large credit under very beneficial conditions. However, the Belarusian leader never fulfilled this promise. ‘Stenogrammu s zayavleniem Lukashenko po Abkhazii i Yuzhnoi Osetii mogut opublikovat’’, Golos Rossii, 18 August 2010, available at: http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/08/18/16271388/, accessed 18 November 2013.
42 Author’s interview with an anonymous CSTO official, the CSTO Secretariat, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
43 Author’s interview with an anonymous CSTO official, the CSTO Secretariat, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
44 ‘Ot redaktsii’, Nezavisimoe voennoe obozrenie, 5 September 2008, available at: http://nvo.ng.ru/concepts/2008-09-05/1_red.html, accessed 18 November 2013.
45 ‘Stenogramma zasedaniya Gosudarstvennoi Dumy’, 26 December 2008, available at: http://transcript.duma.gov.ru/node/420/, accessed 10 September 2013.
46 ‘Stenogramma zasedaniya Gosudarstvennoi Dumy’, 26 January 2011, available at: http://transcript.duma.gov.ru/node/3370, accessed 10 September 2013.
47 Author’s interview with an anonymous official, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow.
48 Author’s interview with an anonymous CSTO official, the CSTO Secretariat, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
49 ‘Zayavlenie ministrov inostrannykh del ODKB’, 8 May 2010, available at: http://www.odkb.gov.ru/session_ten/a.htm, accessed 13 September 2013.
50 ‘Zayavlenie sekretarei bezopasnosti gosudarstv–chlenov ODKB—Respubliki Armeniya, Respubliki Belarus, Respubliki Kazakhstan, Rossiiskoi Federatsii, Respubliki Tadzhikistan i Respubliki Uzbekistan’, 14 June 2010, available at: http://www.dkb.gov.ru/e/azqa.htm, accessed 13 September 2013.
51 ‘Reshenie Soveta kollektivnoi bezopasnosti Organizatsii dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti o ezhegodnom doklade General’nogo sekretarya Organizatsii dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti’, 10 December 2010, available at: http://zakon2.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/997_n34, accessed 13 September 2013.
52 Delegation of the Russian Federation. Statement by Mr Anvar Azimov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, at the Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, 17 June 2010, PC.DEL/582/10, 18 June 2010, available at: http://www.osce.org/pc/68724?download=true, accessed 12 September 2013.
53 ‘Protokol o vnesenii izmenenii v Dogovor o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti ot 15 maya 1992 goda’; ‘Protokol o vnesenii izmenenii v Ustav Dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti ot 7 oktyabrya 2002 goda’; ‘Polozhenie o poryadke reagiriovaniya ODKB na krizisnye situatsii’; ‘Reshenie SKB ODKB o vnesenii izmenenii v Pravila protsedury organov ODKB’; ‘Reshenie SKB ODKB o vnesenii izmenenii v Polozhenie ob organakh ODKB’. See official CSTO webpage for more details on these documents: http://www.dkb.gov.ru/session_twelve/a.htm, accessed 22 August 2016.
54 ‘Stenogramma zasedaniya Gosudarstvennoi Dumy’, 7 October 2011, available at: http://transcript.duma.gov.ru/node/3512, accessed 15 September 2013.
55 ‘Naryshkin: Sovet PA ODKB razdelyaet bespokoistvo RF po krizisu v Ukraine’, RIA Novosti, 17 April 2014, available at: http://rian.com.ua/CIS_news/20140417/344824685.html, accessed 10 January 2015.
56 ‘Zayavlenie Glav gosudarstv–chlenov Organizatsii Dogovora o kollektivnoi bezopasnosti po itogam sessii SKB’, 23 December 2014, available at: http://www.odkb-csto.org/documents/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=4228, accessed 10 January 2015.
57 ‘ODKB: Ukraina pytaetsya zabrosit’ boevikov “Pravogo sektora” v Rossiyu’, TV Tsentr, 22 April 2014, available at: http://www.tvc.ru/news/show/id/37841, accessed 10 January 2015.
58 ‘Vozmozhnosti ODKB ni prikakikh obstoyatelstvakh ne budut ispolzovany dlya razresheniya konflikta na Ukraine. Ob etom v interviu telekanalu “Rossii 24” 16 dekabrya rasskazal general’nyi sekretar’ ODKB Nikolai Borduzha’, 16 December 2014, available at: http://www.odkb-csto.org/news/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=3133&SECTION_ID=91&sphrase_id=9135, accessed 10 January 2015.
59 ‘ODKB ne gotovit kollektivnykh mer reagirovaniya na ukrainskii krizis’, Interfax, 13 March 2014, available at: http://www.interfax.ru/world/364416, accessed 10 January 2015.
60 ‘Vstrecha s presidentami Armenii, Belorussii, Kirgizii i Tadzhikistana’, in Informatsionnyi byulleten’ Sekretariata ODKB’, 12 May 2014, available at: http://www.odkb-csto.org/obzor-pressy/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=3418&sphrase_id=9135, accessed 2 February 2015.
61 ‘President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko Answers Questions of Mass Media Representatives on 23 March 2014’, President of the Republic of Belarus, 23 March 2014, available at: http://president.gov.by/en/news_en/view/president-of-the-republic-of-belarus-alexander-lukashenko-answers-questions-of-mass-media-representatives-on-8348/, accessed 2 February 2015.
62 See also Vysotskaya Guedes Vieira (Citation2014, p. 108).
63 ‘Nursultan Nazarbaev ne priekhal na sammit ODKB’, Kommersant’, 8 May 2014, available at: http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2467697, accessed 2 February 2015.
64 ‘Nazarbaev v Berline: glavnaya tema—“normandskii” sammit v Astane’, Deutsche Welle (Russian Service), 9 January 2015, available at: http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/politics/3465057-nazarbaev-v-berlyne-hlavnaia-tema-normandskyi-sammyt-v-astane, accessed 2 February 2015.
65 ‘Nursultan Nazarbaev ne priekhal na sammit ODKB’, Kommersant’, 8 May 2014, available at: http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2467697, accessed 2 February 2015.
66 ‘Ugrozy, vyzovy, arkhitektura evropeiskoi bezopasnosti. Obmen mneniyami’, Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn’, 4, p. 122.
67 ‘Nikolai Borduzha: NATO sleduet otchitatsya po operatsii v Afganistane’, Radio Golos Rossii, 19 June 2013, available at: http://rus.ruvr.ru/2013_06_19/ODKB-gotova-borotsja-s-afganskimi-ugrozami-5621/, accessed 18 November 2013.
68 ‘Nikolai Borduzha: NATO sleduet otchitatsya po operatsii v Afganistane’, Radio Golos Rossii, 19 June 2013, available at: http://rus.ruvr.ru/2013_06_19/ODKB-gotova-borotsja-s-afganskimi-ugrozami-5621/, accessed 18 November 2013.
69 ‘Gosudarstva-chleny ODKB zainteresovany v prisutstvii antiterroristicheskoi koalitsii v Afganistane—N. Borduzha’, Interfax, 10 April 2007, available at: http://www.interfax.by/node/1022825, accessed 5 August 2013.
70 Author’s interview with an anonymous Russian diplomat from the CSTO subgroup in the first Commonwealth of Independent States Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Moscow, 9 September 2013.
71 Author’s interview with the CSTO official, the CSTO Secretariat, Moscow, 9 September 2013; author’s interview with an anonymous expert, Moscow, 16 August 2012.
72 Interview with Sergey Utkin, Head of Department of Strategic Assessment, RAS, Moscow, 10 September 2013.
73 ‘Soviet kollektivnoi bezopasnosti ODKB prinyal reshenie okazat’ voenno-tekhnicheskuyu pomoshch pogranichnym voiskam Tadzhikistana dlya ukrepleniya tadzhiko-afganskoi granitsy i vystupil s zayavleniem o situatsii v Sirii i vokrug neyo’, 23 September 2013, available at: http://www.odkb-csto.org/news/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=2701, accessed 15 November 2013.
74 Table of comparative results of operations ‘Kanal’ from 2003 until 2012, available from CSTO Secretariat.
75 Interview with Yuliya Nikitina, researcher at the Center for the Post-Soviet Studies, MGIMO, Moscow, 10 September 2013.
76 Interview with Sergey Utkin, Head of Department of Strategic Assessment, RAS, Moscow, 10 September 2013.
77 Interview with Viktor Kremenyuk, Deputy Head of the Institute of the United States and Canada (RAS), Moscow, 15 August 2012.