Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev is predicting instability in the Central Asian region.

Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev is predicting instability in the Central Asian region. "An analysis of the military-political situation in this region suggests that the Central Asian states are in the vanguard of the struggle against international terrorism and religious extremism," Sergeyev told journalists upon his arrival in Astana on Wednesday. "The extremists_ operations on the southern flank of the Commonwealth of Independent States along the curve from the Caucasus to the Pamirs, and their strength and well-coordinated actions require prime attention to joint efforts to deal with this new geo-political challenge," Sergeyev said. Sergeyev said that "the international terrorist and bandit formations will not stop at merely attempting to destabilize the situation in the Central Asian states and will work persistently to attain their ultimate goal of creating an extremist state entity in their territories."