In practice, this is a setback for the United States, who will find it next to impossible to establish a new base in Central Asia once the lease on the Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan expires in 2014, and a boost to Russia who, as a CSTO member state, has a veto on the construction of future bases.

The decision was taken at a meeting of all seven CSTO members – Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Announcing the news, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev told reporters that:

“An accord has been reached to coordinate the deployment, in the territory of the CSTO states, of military infrastructure facilities belonging to non-CSTO states.

In order to deploy military bases of a third country in the territory of the CSTO member-states, it is necessary to obtain the official consent of all its members.”

The move was swiftly followed, in an official statement, by criticism NATO-led interventions, particularly in Libya and Afghanistan, and condemnation of the United States proposals to site a missile shield in Europe.

“The unilateral deployment of strategic missile defense systems by one state or a group of states without due account for the lawful interests of other countries and without extending legally-binding guarantees to the latter may damage international security and strategic stability in Europe and the world as a whole.”

Agreement was also reached on an armanent programme for the CSTO’s rapid re-action force, which may finally become something slightly more than a paper tiger. You can read more about the meeting, including transcripts of all the opening speeches, at the Russian President’s website.

Most interesting, though, was the criticism of the United States and NATO. The sentiments of the strongly worded statement are identical to Russia’s foreign policy positions, and this will do little to dampen criticism that the CSTO is essentially an organisation controlled entirely by Russia.

And it is certainly interesting to see how comfortable the other six member states are in aligning themselves with Russia and agreeing such a strong statement. It seems clear that the US has been squeezed to the sidelines by Russia in the battle for influence in Central Asia.

CSTO slams door on US bases in Central Asia is a post from: Siberian Light

With a week still to go in August 2009, Russia has already seen three disasters that have been big enough to warrant global media attention, making August 2009 a bad month, even by the usual Russian standards:

• an explosion in a Siberian dam that killed at least 70, and has caused massive damage to the local economy;
• a suicide bomb attack that killed 20 in Ingushetia and re-emphasises the Russian government’s inability to impose order in the troubled North Caucuasus region;
• and a very public hunt for a missing, presumed hijacked freighter that so alarmed the Russian government that they sent the entire Atlantic fleet on a frantic hunt for it.

While thinking about Russia’s least favourite month, I stumbled across this graphical timeline of Russian disasters so far in the 21st Century. A quick count up of the totals reveals that, of the 28 disasters listed, 7 took place in August – a full 25%.

Does anyone have any rational explanation for Russia’s unfortunate sequence of Augusts? Are there some local factors that make Russia (or maybe even the rest of the world) more likely to suffer from a catastrophic event during the height of summer, or is it just a run of plain bad luck?

August: Russia's month of Disaster is a post from: Siberian Light

Georgia beat Russia 29-21 in a thrilling encounter to secure first position in the rugby European Nations Cup at the mid-way point of the two-year season.

Held in neutral Ukraine because of last year’s war between the two countries, the game had been keenly anticipated. Georgia, favourites to win the title at the start of the season had stumbled in an earlier game against Portugal and Russia, with a 100% win record, had been considered by many to be the slight favourites.

But it was Georgia who stormed out of the blocks. Three first half tries left the Russians reeling. 21-6 down at the break, they looked to have no chance.

Two second half tries pulled a resilient Russian team back into contention and, at one point, they closed the gap to just three points. But 24-21 was the closest Russia were to get to the title.

One final surge across the try-line, and the Georgians were deserved 29-21 victors.

The result leaves Georgia three points clear of Russia at the mid-way point of this two-year tournament, although Russia have a game in hand against tournament new boys Germany, which should see Russia close the gap to just one point.

This leaves everything to play for next season as Georgia, Russia and Portugal (currently sandwiched between Georgia and Russia in the table) vie for not only the tournament title, but two automatic places at the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Sadly I haven’t been able to find full video highlights of the match online. The Georgian fans are very well organised and put videos up on youtube immediately after each match, but sadly they tend to only show their own team’s scores.

Picture courtesy of M Anderson.

Rugby: Georgia beat Russia to top European Nations Cup table is a post from: Siberian Light

So, to better highlight the best blog posts about Russia, I’m going to write a weekly roundup post from now on. Here’s the first set of links…

• Paul Goble considers whether ‘W’, Oliver Stone’s biopic about George W Bush, will actually have more impact in Russia than it does in the United States.
• Peter Lavelle is annoyed at journalists for taking the easy line when it comes to blaming the Kremlin. “Some dots were quickly and erroneously connected: ‘Kremlin critic – dead journalist – lawyer – poison – Kremlin.’”
• Moscow house prices have gone up by more than 300% since Putin became President in 2000, and gone up by 30% in the first half of 2008 alone. The Streetwise Professor thinks the Moscow housing bubble is about to burst.
• Did you hear the one about the lawyer and the Ukrainian?
• October 21st was a busy day in history for Andrey Nikolayevich Tupolev, the aircraft designer.
• China and Russia – two very different approaches to corruption
• In Moscow’s Shadows hopes that better quality guns will lead to less reliance on indiscriminate force and increased options for Moscow’s Police – “one of the first practical steps away from the paramilitary model of policing”.
• The arrival of the Pavlas Family has resulted in a 100% increase in the number of Sakhalin bloggers.
• If you’re looking for fun in St Petersburg, Copydude heartily recommends Lulu Unlimited.  “Lulu likes audience participation even if you don’t. It’s not a tourist haunt, so saying ‘me no speaky’ won’t spare you.”

Finally, before I go, I wanted to point out a couple of additions to Siberian Light that you might find useful.

At the bottom of the sidebar is a section called ‘Good Reads’.  If you can’t wait for the weekly roundup of Russia blog posts, take a look there instead – it updates every time I highlight and share an item in my RSS reader.

And, at the bottom of each post, I’ve added a small What’s Next section.  As well as letting you know about other related posts you might be interested in, it has a few social media buttons.  If you enjoy what you read at Siberian Light, and think it’s worth of sharing with others, I’d really appreciate the occasional vote on Digg or Stumble Upon.

Russia Blog Roundup – 24 October is a post from: Siberian Light