Russia – Moves on Central Asia

Source Russia MOD

Today, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces General of the Army Valery Gerasimov took part in the International Conference on Interaction of Defence Agencies on Security in Afghanistan and Central Asia in the New Environment held in Moscow.

Opening the conference, the Chief of the General Staff noted that the modern international situation became more unstable, the number of armed conflicts grew while the importance of international institutions created for their solution was decreasing.

“The crisis in the Middle East where the significant part of territories is under the control of the terrorist organization “Islamic State”, and where the efforts of the international anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States do not have any results, shows that the situation in Afghanistan is a matter of particular concern,” said General of the Army Valery Gerasimov.

He stated that the increasing terrorist activity slowed down development of Afghanistan, the significant traffics of drugs, arms and trained militants from this country that meant threat for neighbours and first of all for states of the Central Asia.

The Head of the General Staff stated that there were 50,000 militants from more than 4,000 different groups in Afghanistan.

Chief of the General Staff stated that there had not been formed a balanced mutual security system in the region.

“Previously created mechanisms of the regional security based on mutual deterrence do not work today. New challenges and threats, which are not specific for this region, have appeared,” noted General of the Army Valery Gerasimov.

 “About 40,000 militants of the Islamic Taliban movement are the main power of the illegal armed groups,” explained Valery Gerasimov.

Moreover, according to the Chief of the General Staff, the number of militants from the “Islamic State” is increasing in Afghanistan.

 “We estimate that, there are from 2,000 to 3,000 militants of the “Islamic State” in Afghanistan and the number is increasing steadily,” said Valery Gerasimov and stressed that there was a rapid growth of activities of the terrorists, who were taking new regions under their control.

“The number of casualties among the civilians has reached more than 3,500 people and increased in 25% this year. Approximately 7,000 people were injured,” informed General of the Army Valery Gerasimov.

According to him, active opposition of extremists to the government does not allow to stabilize political and social-economic situation in the country. That leads to unjustified deaths and constant growth of the number of refugees fleeing to the neighbour countries and then to Europe.

He stated that the increasing terrorists’ activity slowed down development of Afghanistan, the significant traffics of drugs, arms and trained militants from this country that meant threat for neighbours and first of all for states of the Central Asia.

“Only the focused mutual work will allow to stabilize the situation in the Central Asia and to prevent the spread of the extremists’ influence over the other countries and regions,” emphasized Chief of the Russian General Staff.

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