"At a time when the echoes of war in Iraq reach the Central Asian region there is a growing role for such structures... In April all arrangements for establishing this organisation should be finalised," Sergei Mironov, speaker of the upper house of Russia's parliament was quoted as saying by Interfax.

The formation of a collective security organisation of six members of the ex-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was set in motion in early

Mironov was speaking after discussing arrangements with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the Kazakh capital Astana.

Among the collective security organisation's assets will be a rapid reaction force using Russian Su-25 ground attack jets and Su-27 fighters, which is being established in Kyrgyzstan.

The organisation's members -- Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan -- are predominantly opposed to the Iraq war.

Russian defence chiefs have been keen to counterbalance the growing military influence in the region of the United States, which has forces based in both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

Moscow is also seeking to bring into line ex-Soviet countries which it has said may have supplied arms to rebels in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya.

An important security role can also be played by the Shanghai cooperation group, which brings together several ex-Soviet countries plus China, Mironov added.

SPACE.WIRE