A treaty on turning Central Asia into a nuclear-free zone is expected to be signed in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, on September 8, a military-diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax-AVN. \"The treaty will be signed by the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian states - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan,\" the source said. The treaty consists of two parts. \"The first part is the treaty itself and the second - a protocol, which is an integral part of the treaty and is a pledge by the five nuclear powers - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - to guarantee the signatory-countries\' security and not to use nuclear weapons against them,\" the diplomat said. \"But the protocol, by all accounts, will not be signed, since the Western members of the nuclear five want the Central Asian states to ban the transit of nuclear weapons through their territory, as well,\" he said. \"Russia supports the Central Asian states\' position,\" the source added. There are five nuclear-free zones in the world, involving some 100 countries and covering nearly half of the earth\'s surface. The formation of nuclear free zones began in the middle of the 1960s with the United Nations and the world community\'s full backing,\" the diplomat said. Nuclear free zones are \"an essential element of the effort to make our planet a safe place to live in, since the signatory states voluntarily give up plans to create and locate nuclear weapons in their territory,\" the diplomat said. (Interfax-AVN)