Military exercises of the United States of America in Central Asia, in which some SCO countries are participating, are needed by Washington to study a potential theater of operations. This opinion was expressed by the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev at a meeting with colleagues in Tashkent on August 19, EurAsia Daily reported.
He pointed out that Washington was not abandoning attempts to reach an agreement with Afghanistan's neighbors on the creation there of supposedly temporary infrastructure for antiterrorist operations.
He underscored that it was in this vein that Moscow was considering the military exercises "Regional Cooperation - 2022" launched on August 10 under the command of the United States.
They are attended by military personnel from the countries that are members of the SCO - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, as well as the Mongolian People's Republic.
“I would like to remind our partners that the Americans need such events primarily to study a potential theater of operations, clarify the coordinates of promising targets and correct digital maps for high-precision weapons. I really hope that all SCO member countries are now aware of the extremely high risks to our security that these American initiatives pose,” Patrushev stressed.
As Patrushev noted, serious geopolitical changes are now taking place in the world and, in fact, a global crisis is unfolding. Its cause was the desire of the West to impose its dominance. Moscow believes that there is a need to modernize the activities of the SCO, taking into account the geopolitical realities that are emerging today.
At an event in Tashkent, the secretaries of the SCO Security Councils discussed the agenda of the organization's summit scheduled for September.
The SCO summit will be held in September in Samarkand. All leaders of the member countries of the organization confirmed their participation. However, some heads of state have not yet decided on the format of participation.
The members of the SCO are India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Observer countries - Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia, partner countries - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkey and Sri Lanka. A summit of the organization is scheduled for mid-September in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It is expected that it will complete the procedure for joining the unification of Iran and grant the status of a dialogue partner to Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The application of Belarus to join the SCO as a full member is also being studied.
