NATO has again announced that it is not yet ready for cooperation with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Experts believe that NATO's unwillingness to cooperate with the CSTO is laying restrictions on itself rather than on the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

A statement to the effect that NATO is not regarding the CSTO as its partner was made NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday, October 22nd. However, his statement did not come as a surprise for experts. Senior fellow for Euro -Atlantic Studies of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies Sergei Mikhailov says:

"This statement is no news. NATO unveiled its stand in the middle of the past decade. As it appears, this stand is simply a reflection of the American, or to be more exact, Western approach to the post-Soviet Space. This approach means that all means are good for the prevention of integration processes in the post-Soviet space led by Russia."

It is well known that the territories of the former Soviet republics were in the zone of the US geopolitical and economic interests. Thus, it is clear that in view of the above-mentioned cooperation between NATO and the CSTO is impossible because of the conflicting interests of the two sides, Director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting Alexander Gusev (Doctor of Political Sciences) says.

"A statement made by Anders Fogh Rasmussen to the effect that NATO has no plans to develop interaction with the CSTO reveals a tendency that neither Europe nor the USA would like this country to build a certain integration configuration in the post-Soviet space. In other words, they are not interested in the restoration of Russia's regional influence. Because if such a thing happens, they would have a serious headache."

The CSTO says that all its member -states, including Russia in the first place. However, collective action would prove the most effective are cooperating with NATO. The CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha said that such proposal had been made to NATO more than once.

However, all of them remained unanswered. Despite that Bordyuzha believes that the CSTO is a self-sufficient organization for which interaction with NATO is not vitally important. And still he says that within the Afghan problem framework the West must be interested in the broadening of such cooperation. Alexander Gusev says:

"It is a very serious issue. The border with Afghanistan poses a great danger. The Taliban fighters will do their utmost to influence the neighbouring countries. In this case the establishment of the CSTO system would make it possible to strengthen border security."

And one more thing of importance here, Alexander Gusev said. "The Americans say that they plan to leave Afghanistan. However, I don't think so. I believe that they will stay in the country. Like it was in Iraq. They keep saying that they are handing over the reins of government to the people. This is not true. They are working hard to set up six centres for training specialists . It is clear that this fact is none other than a serious argument in favour of the preservation of the American influence."

All talks about the spheres of influence withing the Afghan problem framework must become a thing of the past now. Not one state, not one group of governments will be able to protect themselves against such threats and challenges which are very serious. Coordinated efforts of the world society are needed for this. That is why close cooperation between NATO and the CSTO is becoming inevitable.

Source: Voice of Russia