June 15, 2005: Russian Geopolitics Expert Says SCO Should Resist US Attempts to Dominate Central Asia

Vice President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems Leonid Ivashov says during a press conference that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) should be more forceful in expressing its position regarding the US presence in Central Asia. Russia sees the region as highly strategic and believes that the SCO should resist US attempts to replace Russian military forces in the region. “We [Russia] should not have left Central Asian countries face to face with the US in this issue. We should have expressed our position within the SCO framework on NATO striving for presence in the region,” he says. “It is impossible to break the US and NATO resistance in the sphere of base preservation single-handed,” he adds. [Novosti Russian News and Information Agency, 6/19/2005]