CSTO Wants Mutual Consent For Foreign Military Bases

Leaders at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) narrow format summit in Moscow on December 20

Members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have reached a tentative agreement that would require all seven member states to agreement to any individual state allowing foreign military forces to be based on its territory.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev announced the deal at a meeting of heads of state of CSTO countries on December 20 in Moscow.

"I think we made an important decision today by reaching a consensus among all [CSTO] country leaders that from now on the deployment of military infrastructure facilities on the territory of our countries by non-CSTO countries will be possible only with the agreement of all CSTO allies," Nazarbaev said.

The CSTO leaders did not sign any agreement binding them to this arrangement at the Moscow meeting and it was not clear when the issue would come up for formal approval.

Three of the seven CSTO members currently have foreign troops based on their territories: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. All those foreign troops are part of the military operation in Afghanistan.

compiled from local and regional news agencies