Recent Developments
During 2005, the CSTO partners conducted some common military exercises. In 2005, Uzbekistan withdrew from GUAM and joined the CSTO in 2006 in order to seek closer ties with Russia.
In June 2007, Kyrgyzstan assumed the rotating CSTO presidency.
In October 2007, the CSTO signed an agreement with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, to broaden cooperation on issues such as security, crime, and drug trafficking.
On October 6, 2007, CSTO members agreed to a major expansion of the organization that would create a CSTO peacekeeping force that could deploy under a U.N. mandate or without one in its member states. The expansion would also allow all members to purchase Russian weapons at the same price as Russia.
On August 29, 2008, Russia announced it would seek CSTO recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Three days earlier, on August 26, Russia recognised the independence of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
On September 5, 2008, Armenia assumed the rotating CSTO presidency during a CSTO meeting in Moscow, Russia.
On December 10, 2010, the member states approved a declaration establishing a CSTO peacekeeping force and a declaration of the CSTO member states, in addition to signing a package of joint documents.
On December 21, 2011, Russia won the right to veto the establishment of new foreign military bases in the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). Additionally, Kazakhstan took over the rotating presidency of the CSTO from Belarus.
On June 28, 2012, Uzbekistan suspended its membership in the CSTO.
Read more about this topic: Collective Security Treaty Organisation
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