NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen"s...

"I hope that the NATO Secretary General"s visit to Moscow will allow him to once again pay attention to the issue [of cooperation between NATO and the CSTO]," Nikolai Bordyuzha said.

He said that no steps to improve cooperation between the two organizations had been taken so far.

"NATO is still failing to establish contact with the CSTO, including on issues like Afghanistan," Bordyuzha said.

He added that he had no plans to meet with Rasmussen during his visit to Moscow.

Headquartered in Moscow, the CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Russia"s security strategy until 2020 envisions the CSTO as "a key mechanism to counter regional military challenges and threats."

Bordyuzha said the security group plans to complete the creation of CSTO peacekeeping force and to start training peacekeepers next year.

He also said that the joint rapid-reaction force established earlier this year would

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