DUSHANBE (Monitoring Desk): The United States is creating long-term hotbeds of tension around the SCO countries with an unpredictable scenario for the development of events, said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
“Long-term hotbeds of tension with an unpredictable scenario of events are forming around the SCO countries. Aggressive economic pressure, all kinds of sanctions, provoking conflicts, conducting campaigns to misinform the population have become typical methods of achieving goals. Instability is most acutely manifested in Southeast Asia,” Shoigu said on a meeting of the heads of the military departments of the SCO member states.
According to him, the states of the region “Washington is imposing the creation of structures similar to NATO.”
“Advanced high-readiness groups are being for-med, the forces and assets of non-regional states are increasingly involved in the exercises, which increases the danger of incidents in the course of military activities. A large-scale deployment of an anti-missile defense system and its interface with strike assets is under way,” Shoigu said.
He recalled that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has repeatedly pointed to the destabilizing role of the US missile defense system and its orientation against Russia and China.
“The situation is further complicated by the fact that with the termination of the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, this class of weapons can be deployed in Asia,” added Shoigu.
The US and NATO mission in Afghanistan has failed, the situation in the country is rapidly degrading and has practically gone out of control of the authorities, said Sergei Shoigu.
“The development of events in the bordering northern regions of the country and the mass exodus of Afghans in the territory of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan show that the agreements between the United States and the Islamic movement of the Taliban. Are not being implemented,” Shoigu said on the meeting of the defense ministers of the SCO member states.
According to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, the situation in Afghanistan “is rapidly degrading and practically out of the control of the authorities, and the Taliban already control most of the territory.”
“Of particular concern is the strengthening of the positions of ISIS. And other international terrorist organizations, which has led to an increase in the threat of their penetration into neighboring countries. Thus, we have to admit that the US and NATO mission in Afghanistan has failed,” said Shoigu.
The United States is trying to create its own military bases in a number of countries, but this “will not lead to anything good,” Sergei Shoigu further said.
“The hasty withdrawal of foreign contingents provoked an additional sharp jump in military-political tension and a surge in hostilities. At the same time, the Americans are more concerned about the possibility of creating new transit routes and logistics structures in the Central Asian states, the deployment of their military bases and facilities,” Shoigu said at a meeting of heads of military departments of the SCO member states.
According to him, the Russian military is aware of such attempts: “We believe that this will not lead to anything good, but can only entail a prolonged presence of the Alliance in the region and additional instability.”
In this context, he noted, “it is extremely important to hold constant consultations between our countries in order to prevent the overflow of destabilizing processes on the territory of the SCO states.”
“We welcome any international initiatives to promote a political settlement of the Afghan conflict,” Shoigu said.
At the same time, Shoigu noted that it is hard to find a place on the planet “where the US came and stayed for a long time with good consequences.” “For example, did it lead to anything good in Syria and Libya? Things continue to unfold there. In Syria, for example, the country is being blatantly plundered, with oil and other natural resources brazenly exported, without the knowledge of the Syrian state and with no benefit to it,” the Russian defense chief said.
On the other hand, there are still sanctions banning the import of oil products to Syria, he noted. “And not only oil products. This includes food, medicine and many other things. So, did anything good happen there? Libya is still split in two to this day, and God willing, the agreements sig-ned and reached in Berlin will be implemented. Natu-rally, everyone is doing everything possible so that Libya will once again become a peaceful, united, and God willing, prosperous state,” Shoigu stated.
