After a nearly 10-year absence, Uzbekistan is seeking to rejoin the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization. The move is part of the gyrating foreign policy necessary to Uzbekistan's survival.
The Uzbek parliament ratified March 28 the country’s re-entrance into the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) after a nearly 10-year absence. Taskhent is attempting to balance the region’s major powers so that it has some modicum of room to maneuver.
CSTO is a Russian-dominated security organization intended to replace the Warsaw Pact as Moscow’s security bulwark. Unlike the Warsaw Pact, however, there are few Russian bases on the territory of any of the member states, and the organization is largely limited to sporadic military exercises used to make political points. In essence, CSTO is little more than a Russian claim to influence in the former Soviet Union.