Russian-led military alliance won't be party to ongoing war in Ukraine: Kazakhstan

ASTANA, Kazakhstan

Despite Russia being its largest member, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) military alliance will not be a party to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Kazakhstan said Monday.

Kazakhstan favors territorial integrity, sovereign equality, and peaceful coexistence of states within the framework of international law and principles of the UN, Aibek Smadiyarov, a spokesman for the country’s Foreign Ministry, told a weekly press briefing.

The alliance's area of responsibility is limited to internationally recognized borders of its member states and hence it will not be a party to the seven-month-old war, he added.

Meanwhile, forces from the alliance's member states are continuing a multi-day exercise in Kazakhstan.

According to a Defense Ministry statement, the exercise will continue until Friday in the southern part of the country, with the participation of over 6,500 military personnel.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a Russian-led intergovernmental military alliance of six post-Soviet states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.

*Written by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara