Alma Ata held a CSTO conference on stability of Central Asia yesterday. Alexey Vlasov, Editor-in-Chief of Vestnik Kavkaza, focused on development of countries of the region and withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan.
The expert emphasized that the CSTO does not have to become a universal solution to all new challenges. Vlasov reminded that Andrey Kazantsev had given four clear scenarios for the situation in the region after the withdrawal. The situation would not be explosive, but the problems would still need solutions. He added that the meeting of Kazakh and Uzbek Presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev and Islam Karimov gave hope that the “Cold War” in Central Asia would be prevented.
Vlasov said that the main problems were social security, radicalization of Islamic groups, inter-religious disputes, water and energy, escalating xenophobia and nationalism that could repeat the Osh events of 2010. He added provocative posts on Kyrgyz social networks to the list.
The editor-in-chief noted that the problems are aggravated by lack of managing staff in some countries of the region. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have not experienced the phase of passing presidential authority to successors, which causes new risks.
Vlasov agreed with analyst Alexander Karavayev and believes that realization of CSTO’s police functions is a different group of issues the organization needs to work on, apart from such problems as terrorism and ethnic conflicts. CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha shares the opinion.
