SCO will not form military bloc: Russian envoy
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E-mail Xinhua, June 10, 2012
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will not become a military alliance, a senior Russian diplomat said Saturday.
Kirill Barsky, the Russian president's envoy to SCO, told reporters that, although member states had conducted military cooperation and antiterrorist exercises, it did not necessarily mean they were planning to form a military-political bloc.
Barsky admitted security was one priority of the SCO but added the organization's constitution made it clear "SCO is not a military-political union," Itar-Tass news agency quoted the official as saying.
The heads of state of the SCO members agreed at the just-concluded Beijing summit that "specific means and mechanism" for maintaining regional security and stability should be decided by the countries of that region.
According to a declaration adopted at the end of the two-day summit on Thursday, in the event of a situation threatening the peace, stability and security of a SCO member state or the entire region, the member states shall, in accordance with the organization's relevant documents, take political and diplomatic measures to deal with the situation in a timely and appropriate manner.
Barsky said SCO leaders during the summit made some adjustments in the provision concerning political measures in responding to the changing world situation and regional security threat.
The new version of the provision allowed a timely implementation of necessary measures to the country in need. "But these measures can be applied only with the consent of the threatened state," Barsky said.
