Defense chief suggests deploying CSTO contingent at Kyrgyz-Tajik border

Kyrgyzstan deems it expedient to deploy a military contingent of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in the border area of a recent conflict with Tajikistan to de-escalate the situation, Kyrgyz Defense Minister Baktybek Bekbolotov said on Wednesday.

"There will be no peace and calm on the border [with Tajikistan] as long as there is no arbiter between the Kyrgyz and the Tajiks. A small CSTO contingent can be deployed at disputable sections to control the pullout of equipment and the ceasefire," he told a press conference.

It is difficult for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to reach a consensus on disputable border areas because each side has "its own truth," he added.

It is the deployment of a CSTO military contingent at the Kyrgyz-Tajik border that can help continue the process of the border demarcation and delimitation, the defense minister said.

"The disputable situation on the border has persisted for a long time and this began not 30 years ago but 98 years ago," he said.