CSTO's head discusses border situation with Kyrgyz FM: Secretariat

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The head of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Stanislav Zas, spoke by phone with Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Zheenbek Kulubaev about the Bishkek-Dushanbe border clashes, as per the CSTO secretariat. 

During the phone call, the two parties considered the use of force and heavy weapons unacceptable, according to the secretariat.

"At the initiative of the Kyrgyz side, the CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas had a telephone conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Zheenbek Kulubaev. The Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan informed about the difficult situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in the Batken region in connection with the fighting," the CSTO secretariat said.

Zas and Kulubaev emphasized the significance of an immediate cease-fire.

"The parties consider the use of force and heavy weapons, including artillery and multiple rocket launchers, unacceptable," the secretariat added.

Diplomats agreed that the conflict should be resolved peacefully.

Border guards in Kyrgyzstan said as quoted by Sputnik that Tajikistan's military stopped shelling the Kyrgyz border region of Osh following talks between the two national border agencies.

"After the negotiations, Tajikistan stopped firing artillery shells and mortar rounds at positions of Kyrgyz border guards in the villages of Teshik-Tash, Karamyk, and Karool-Debe in Chong-Alay district in the Osh region at 2:20 p.m. [8:20 GMT]," a spokesperson for the Kyrgyz border guard agency said as quoted by Sputnik.

It is worth noting that clashes erupted along the Osh region's border on Friday after Central Asian neighbors accused each other of attacking. Heavy fighting had subsided by the evening but had resumed on Saturday morning. Dozens of people have been killed, and hundreds more have been injured.

In the same context, the Kyrgyz Health Ministry said as quoted by Sputnik that the number of Kyrgyz nationals injured in armed clashes near the Kyrgyz-Tajik border has risen to 121.

"As of 14:00 a.m. [local time, 08:00 GMT] on September 17, the number of wounded admitted to healthcare facilities is 121, and seven of them have been sent to ambulatory medical care," the ministry's spokesperson said.

On Friday, the ceasefire on the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border collapsed after the Tajik military fired at Kyrgyz two border guard settlements near the Kyrgyzstan border.

Both sides leveled accusations of shelling against one another. According to the Tajik side, one Tajik border guard was killed and three others were injured after shelling from Kyrgyz territory

Soviet republics frequently, usually tend to de-escalate quickly, although last year they almost led to an all-out war. The Polish mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) reported that the organization issued calls for both countries to reimplement a ceasefire. 

Both countries host Russian military bases and have cordial and close ties with Moscow, which called for a cessation of hostilities this week.

Former Soviet pasts

Both countries host Russian military bases and have cordial and close ties with Moscow. The EU and the US have recently sought to meddle in Russia's foreign allies' affairs with the most recent offer the US has made by promising support for Armenia and Azerbaijan in solving their conflict. The intent in doing so is to downplay Russia's influence over the Caucasus and its allies. 

Temur Umarov, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace focusing on Central Asia, said the remote and mostly agricultural villages in the conflict do not have economical significance, but that both nations have considered them politically significant, adding that both governments have relied on what he called "populist, nationalist rhetoric" that escalated the border situation, making the cessation of the conflict impossible. 

Central Asia analyst, Alexander Knyazev, said the sides showed no will to resolve the conflict peacefully and the mutual territorial claims provoked aggressive attitudes on all levels, suggesting that only third-party peacekeepers or mediators could prevent further conflicts by establishing a demilitarised zone in the area.