Russia and Uzbekistan ink military cooperation agreement

For Russian Defence minister, terrorist “risks are not reduced but increased”. Russia and China compete in the region.

Moscow (AsiaNews) – Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu and his Uzbek counterpart, Kabul Berdiyev, yesterday signed an agreement on developing military and technical cooperation as well as a plan of bilateral cooperation for 2017. 

The agreement provides for joint military activities to enhance military security, capacity building of the armed forces, and military personnel training in both countries.

Minister Shoigu noted that the programme to modernise and reequip Uzbekistan’s Armed Forces with modern Russian weapons is currently underway, and is expected to be completed by 2020.

The “Situation near the borders of Uzbekistan once again raises the question about the necessity of cooperating within the CSTO and SCO in order to maintain peace and security in the region,” he explained.

In fact, it “shows that the risks are not reduced but increased. This is caused by the appearance of organisations such as the Islamic state and Jabhat al-Nusra (banned in Russia) and, certainly, their activities. This relates to weapons and new methods of warfare”.

Towards the end of October, China conducted combined military training in Tajikistan, and invested in the military infrastructure of the Central Asian neighbouring republic.

Some analysts foresee greater competition between China and Russia in Central Asian.

• russia
• uzbekistan
• military cooperation
• shoigu
• berdiyev
• islamist groups