Why NATO is creating biolabs in Central Asia

МОСКВА, 26 февраля 2022, Институт РУССТРАТ. The importance of Central Asian countries for NATO is explained by the possibility of influencing the main competitors of the United States - China, Russia, and Iran. The impact is promoted through the expansion of its own influence, using the accumulated socio-economic, demographic, ethnic and religious problems that exist in the countries of the region. Their own economic interests, which extend to the extraction of natural resources, are also taken into account. The military component of the impact is manifested in the cooperative threat reduction program (DTRA), equipping and training special forces units, as well as regular troops, an attempt to create military bases, including in the Caspian Sea, and military-technical cooperation. Let's start with a list of military facilities located in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Biological laboratories created by the American DTRA (Defence Threat Reduction Agency) deserve the most attention. Despite the fact that these laboratories also work on purely "civilian" tasks, there are irrefutable facts of the participation of military microbiologists of the North Atlantic Alliance in their activities. Outbreaks of diseases that are not typical for the region are alarming. Due to the proximity of these countries and the large number of migrant workers, the strains created in vitro can be easily transferred to the territory of Russia. The list of biolabs is extensive. Uzbekistan 2007 - laboratory at the Institute of Virology in Tashkent (projects UZ-4 and KZ-2, brucellosis, anthrax) established; 2013 - laboratories in Andijan, Fergana of the second level of protection. 2016 - laboratory in Urgench. Kazakhstan 2016 - Secondary Reference Laboratory in Almaty (third level of protection). Biolab in Otar (Gvardeysky village). It is planned to expand the laboratory to the fourth level of protection with a storage facility for particularly dangerous and dangerous strains in 2022. Kyrgyzstan The National Biological Laboratory of the 3rd class in the green zone of Bishkek (Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic) was closed in 2012 due to protests of citizens. Tajikistan 2011 - with the financial support of the Global Fund, the First National (Bacteriological) Reference Laboratory was opened at the Republican Tuberculosis Control Center in Dushanbe. 2013 - the first national (bacteriological) reference laboratory of the third level of protection was opened on the basis of the Gastroenterological Institute in Dushanbe. 2019 - laboratory at the Republican Tuberculosis Control Center. The sponsors were USAID and the Pentagon. 2020 - in the north of Tajikistan, another facility was opened in the city of Isfara. There is very little information about whether the Americans financed it again. Kazakhstan should also be noted in connection with the fact that in Soviet times military biological laboratories of the USSR worked on its territory, not only developing biological weapons, but also producing them (Otar, Stepnogorsk). It was also on its territory, on Vozrozhdeniya Island (Aral), that these weapons were tested. By the way, the laboratory in Otar (Gvardeysky) continued to exist after the collapse. Even during the existence of the USSR, a military microbiologist who knows all the secrets of creating domestic combat strains, Kanatzhan Alibekov, escaped to the United States. There is reliable information that he worked closely with the US Defence Department, passing on secret formulas and information. The museum of strains (a collection of the most deadly diseases), which remained in Kazakhstan, thus safely, as well as developments, fell into the hands of the United States. Speaking about the training of the armed forces and special forces units, it should be noted that the main burden falls on the NATO ally in the region - Turkey. Here are some statistics. Since 2000, about 1,200 soldiers of Turkmenistan, 401 of Kyrgyzstan, 426 of Uzbekistan, and 526 of Kazakhstan have been trained in higher military educational institutions and military training courses on the ground in Turkey. The "Turkish Partnership For Peace Training" centre created in Turkey and a similar one operating in Kazakhstan are actively used. Future (and existing) officers are trained in the US, German, and French military education systems. Instructors from the United States, Britain, and Turkey conduct regular course training for special forces units, including those that are part of the GRU system. Thus, in Kazakhstan, in the course training system, about 500 military personnel have been trained by Turkish instructors in the programs "Commando", "Special Forces", "Special Purpose", "Internal Security" since 2005 (including GRU specialists on the basis of the training centre of military unit 22750 GRU); about 400 sergeants have been trained by US instructors on the basis of the cadet corps, the Military Institute of the Ground Forces. The latter deserve special attention, since their presence is closely related to the fact that Kazakhstan has reformed its own structure of the armed forces, creating a layer of professional non-commissioned officers, the highest level of which is trained at the US Sergeant Academy. Moving on to Tajikistan, where the US Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) provided National Guard training. In 2010, with the financial support of the United States, a peacekeeping battalion was formed and took part in multinational peacekeeping exercises in Mongolia, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Germany and the United States. In September 2015, the corresponding command and staff exercise "Regional Cooperation" was held in Tajikistan itself. Military exercises are held on a regular basis with the military trained by NATO instructors in order to coordinate national units in joint actions of the North Atlantic Alliance countries: "Zhardem", "Steppe Eagle", "Ultimate Guardian". The exercises are held both on the territory of the countries of interest and on the territory of the Alliance. For example, in January 2019, the special forces of Uzbekistan and the US National Guard for the first time took part in joint exercises on the territory of Camp Shelby, Mississippi; Kazakhstanis took part in joint exercises on the territory of Turkey "Anatolian 2021". Turning to the supply of weapons and military equipment, we note that the latest developments are not transferred to the hands of the Central Asian military. Most of the deliveries are quite "old" armoured vehicles (Hummer, Cobra, M-ATV), helicopters (Apache, Airbus Helicopters) and aircraft (C-295W, Beechcraft King Air BOMBER Scorpion), drones (Bayraktar). As a percentage, the number of weapons and military equipment supplied by NATO countries is less than that imported from Russia. This is also due to the fact that the states of the region support their own multi-vector policy, and also consider Russia as a more significant partner.