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Turkmenistan
Role of Russia and the CIS
The Treaty on Joint Measures signed by Russia and Turkmenistan
in July 1992 provided for the Russian Federation to act as guarantor
of Turkmenistan's security and made former Soviet army units in
the republic the basis of the new national armed forces. The treaty
stipulated that, apart from border troops and air force and air
defense units remaining under Russian control, the entire armed
forces would be under joint command, which would gradually devolve
to exclusive command by Turkmenistan over a period of ten years.
For a transitional period of five years, Russia would provide
logistical support and pay Turkmenistan for the right to maintain
special installations, while Turkmenistan would bear the costs
of housing, utilities, and administration.
More recent agreements between the two countries have strengthened
their military alliance. In August 1992, accord was reached on
the deployment of Russian border troops in the republic for a
five-year period, with an option to renew for another five years.
In September 1993, Turkmenistan agreed to assume all costs of
maintaining forces on its soil following a five-year period of
shared financing. This agreement granted Russia the right to maintain
air force and air defense systems with limited control by Turkmenistan.
It addressed the continuing majority of Russians in the command
structure by permitting Russian citizens to perform military duty
in Turkmenistan and by making allowance for the training of Turkmenistani
officers in Russian military schools. At the CIS summit held in
Ashgabat in December 1993, the military alliance between the two
countries was affirmed, and provisions were made for the participation
of 2,000 Russian officers in Turkmenistan in the development of
the national armed forces.
Despite the Russian Federation's deep involvement in Turkmenistan's
military and pressures to do so, the republic has not joined the
CIS collective security agreement. However, regional conflicts
have led Turkmenistan to deviate from its posture of avoiding
multinational commitments. The republic joined Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan in drawing up a draft agreement on joint border defense
along the Amu Darya. In addition, Turkmenistan has indicated willingness
to cooperate in limited ways in a CIS-sponsored Central Asian
Zone that would integrate military units of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
part of Kyrgyzstan, and possibly Turkmenistan, and provide joint
response in cases of aggression by a southern neighbor against
any member. In May 1994, Turkmenistan became the first Central
Asian member nation of the Partnership for Peace, the NATO initiative
offering limited participation in the Western military alliance
in return for participation in some NATO exercises. As a result,
Turkmenistan has pursued the possibly of training its officers
with the military cadre of NATO member nations. The Russian monopoly
on military training was broken by a 1994 agreement by which Pakistan
would train Turkmenistani air force cadets.
When the Ministry of Defense was formed, most ethnic Turkmen
appointees were former communist party and government officials,
illustrating the lack of Turkmen senior officers. The first minister
of defense, Lieutenant General Danatar Kopekov, had been chairman
of the Turkmenistan State Security Committee. In 1994 the chief
of staff and first deputy minister of defense was Major General
Annamurat Soltanov, a career officer who had served in Cuba and
Afghanistan; another deputy minister of defense, Major General
Begdzhan Niyazov, had been a law enforcement administrator prior
to his appointment. Russian commanders included Major General
Viktor Zavarzin, chief of staff and first deputy commander of
the Separate Combined-Arms Army of Turkmenistan, and commander
of the Separate Combined-Arms Army of Turkmenistan and deputy
minister of defense Lieutenant General Nikolay Kormil'tsev. Russian
Major General Vladislav Shunevich served together with Turkmen
Major General Akmurad Kabulov as joint commanders of the border
troops in the Turkmen Border Guard.
Data as of March 1996
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