Among other things, the programme showed MP Bakhtiyor Yoqubov echoing Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s views in this regard. “Uzbekistan’s point of view is that the CRRF should be set up to resist external threats when the CSTO countries face them. The use of the CRRF is categorically unacceptable to settle any conflict or problem which appears inside the CIS or among CSTO member countries. These views are the main aspects of Uzbekistan’s position,” Bakhtiyor Yoqubov said.

At the same time, Bakhtiyor Yoqubov noted that Article 12 of the CSTO Charter stipulates that the use of the CRRF should be decided based on the principles of consensus. “Otherwise, it may cause misunderstandings or conflicts among member countries in the future,” he said.

The Uzbek MP said issues of keeping military contingents in one country or stationing them into another country should be resolved in compliance with national legislation. “As is known, the CSTO member states should allocate their military contingents to the CRRF. The issues of deploying such military contingents by any state on its territory or vice versa - stationing them into another state’s territory - should be carried out in accordance with national legislation. This is also another very important aspect of Uzbekistan’s stance,” Bakhtiyor Yoqubov said.

“Uzbekistan’s clear-cut stance is that the agreement should enter into force only after it is ratified by the parliaments of the states,” Yoqubov added.

He went on to say that the Uzbek Constitution and legislation required that any kind of international document, including the one which is related to the country’s defence, can enter into force only in case it is ratified by the Uzbek parliament. “If the CRRF agreement enters into force before that, then it will mean a violation of the national parliament’s legal rights enshrined in laws,” he concluded.