On September 20, Tashkent hosted a conference on the topic “Russia and Uzbekistan facing the challenges of development and security at a new historical stage of interaction.” This gathering, jointly organized by Russia’s Valdai International Discussion Club and the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies Under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, was attended by high-level diplomats from both countries. During the conference, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko implicitly suggested that the Kremlin would like Uzbekistan to rejoin the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Moscow-led regional security alliance whose other members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (Youtube, September 23).
Is Uzbekistan on the Verge of Rejoining the CSTO? – Jamestown
