CSTO urged to react to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan's decision

"The situation is not easy in Tajikistan, and we must not ignore the address of Tajik president," Lukashenko said here Tuesday at a meeting with CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha.

Lukashenko also asked Bordyuzha to inform other CSTO member countries of Uzbekistan's decision to quit the organization. "This is a disturbing time. One has to respond. Maybe time is trying our durability," Lukashenko added.

Bordyuzha, in his comment, stressed that all registered trends were negative. "They indicate that the situation around and inside the former USSR is getting worse," he added.

Earlier, Uzbekistan gave notice to CSTO headquarters in Moscow that it has withdrawn from the military and security bloc. Experts interpreted this as part of a larger trend that threatens to destroy the organization, Xinhua reports.

After Tashkent's announcement, Tajikistan said it would hike the annual rent for the base Moscow leases in the country to 230 million U.S. dollars, about a tenfold increase.

The CSTO is an inter-governmental military alliance which was signed on May 15, 1992. On October 7, 2002, the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan signed a charter in Tashkent, marking the founding the organization.

On June 23, 2006, Uzbekistan became a full participant in the CSTO. Its membership was formally ratified by the Uzbek parliament on March 28, 2008.