Ukraine crisis consequence of distancing from CIS — CSTO head

Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha said the Ukrainian crisis is a consequence of long-term distancing from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and collective decision-making on security issues.

"Over the past two decades, Ukraine has been avoiding the opportunity to collectively make decisions on security issues. It never became a full-fledged CIS member, never signed the Charter, although it did participate in CIS activity," Bordyuzha said. "The Ukrainian leadership has always had special position on this issue," he added.

According to the CSTO official, "the wish by certain states to engineer a split among Slavic countries, separate Ukraine from CIS and neighbors with which it has shared its history, is among the reasons behind the crisis."

"We now see the result of what has been happening in Ukraine for many years. It is very difficult to bring up a generation with Russophobic views. Much time and efforts were spent on it. Militant training camps operated there for years, as did instructors from various countries who worked with the political elites, creating the cells of what later became the Maidan," Bordyuzha went on.

He said the CSTO saw information attacks on vital facilities of the Russian Federation and the attempts to plant there Right Sector representatives.

"We know, see and understand what is happening in Ukraine. Yet we try to make as few statements as possible about the situation, seeing the activity by NATO representatives. Talking about the need to punish Russia by sanctions and reiterating that 'Russia will answer for everything' they are provoking the development of events," Bordyuzha stressed.

"Against this background, we should not behave in the same manner though we won't leave the ongoing events in Ukraine without attention. At the same time, we won't contribute to aggravation of the situation there," Bordyuzha said.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a military and political union set by a number of Eurasian states on the basis of the Collective Security Treaty signed on May 15, 1992. In different periods, the organization comprised six to nine members. At present, its members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. Serbia and Afghanistan have been observer states at CSTO since April 2013.