Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov . File photoMOSCOW, May 5.Moscow is strengthening security cooperation with the countries of Central Asia, military-technical cooperation is also developing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. «Cooperation in the field of security is being strengthened. Consultations are held on a regular basis on countering international terrorism, relevant assistance in the training of professional personnel. Military and military-technical cooperation is actively developing,» the minister said in an article on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the states of Central Asia, published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. According to him, medium-term and long-term programs are being implemented to providing military-technical assistance aimed at modernizing the armed forces of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.» I would especially note the joint work in the line of anti-terrorist and anti-drug structures of the CIS, the CSTO and the SCO. Effective actions of the CSTO peacekeeping forces in January 2022 d. to assist Kazakhstan in stabilizing the internal political situation after the riots supported from the outside became clear evidence of the maturity and high reliability of this Organization. In many ways, this made it possible to stop threats to the security of the entire Central Asian region,» Lavrov said. He also stressed that, unlike some Western countries, Russia does not consider the Central Asian region as an arena for geopolitical confrontation — in the spirit of the colonial concept of the «Great Game». The minister added that Moscow sees great potential for further development of cooperation in the trade, economic, energy, scientific and technical fields, and the implementation of transit opportunities. : deployment of NATO infrastructure in Central Asia is unacceptable
