From Vladimir Isachenkov, the AP:  Uzbekistan has suspended its participation in a Russia-dominated security pact of ex-Soviet nations, officials said Thursday , a move that reflected tensions inside the grouping.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization’s spokesman, Vladimir Zainetdinov, said Thursday that it received a note from Uzbekistan declaring the suspension of its involvement in the seven-nation alliance. Zainetdinov wouldn’t comment on possible motives behind the move, and Uzbek officials couldn’t be reached for comment. The grouping also includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Russia has touted the CSTO as an ex-Soviet response to NATO, but the pact has remained amorphous and weakened by differences among its members. The pact members created a joint rapid reaction force that held sporadic maneuvers, but its numbers were small and its mission unclear. Uzbekistan has refrained from contributing its troops to the force in an apparent reluctance to give Russia too much clout.

Uzbekistan left the grouping once before in 1999, but returned in 2006, reflecting its strongman ruler’s often unpredictable decisions.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov was the country’s Communist Party boss and stayed at its helm after the 1991 Soviet collapse. He has ruled the resource-rich, strategically-placed Central Asian nation of 27 million with an iron fist, tolerating no dissent. International rights groups list Uzbekistan among the world’s most corrupt and repressive nations.  (photo: Government of Uzbekistan)