MOSCOW, July 5 (RIA Novosti) - The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has often proposed cooperation with NATO but received no response, the CSTO secretary general said Tuesday.
"They have simply ignored us," Nikolai Bordyuzha said, "I am convinced it was deliberate. NATO is not interested in cooperation with another organization."
Bordyuzha said that NATO had staked its claims in Central Asia and the East long ago. "This format allows the alliance to counter integration within the CSTO."
The secretary general said that the CSTO, comprising Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, did not regard NATO as a rival organization.
"On the contrary, we can work together on a number of problems," he said, "If we are a success we will get an effective system to counter new threats and challenges."
