MINSK, 23 August (BelTA) – The peacekeeping exercise Unbreakable Brotherhood 2016 of the Collective Security Treaty Organization began in Belarus on 23 August to end on 27 August, BelTA has learned.
Over 1,000 military personnel from the CSTO member states will take part in the exercise. This year's exercise will take place near Baranovichi in the Obuz-Lesnovsky exercise area. The exercise will focus on preparing and carrying out a peacekeeping operation by the CSTO collective peacekeeping forces. However, the concept of the exercise will differ from conventional templates. A number of useful novelties will be practiced instead. They reflect new ways of carrying out peacekeeping missions as part of modern integrated peacekeeping operations. For the first time the CSTO collective peacekeeping forces will get a mandate of the UN Security Council and will act in a crisis area together with the UN mission. Concerted efforts aimed at improving the CSTO's peacekeeping assets have been noted by representatives of other international organizations. Representatives of the UN Secretariat and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been invited to attend the exercise.
A demonstration of the new and modernized samples of armaments, military and special hardware that can be used by the peacekeeping forces was arranged in an exercise area in Brest Oblast the day before. About ten organizations that make part of the system of the State Defense Industries Committee of Belarus and the Belarusian defense industry, army units and structural divisions of the Defense Ministry presented about 100 samples of armaments, military and special hardware. Participants of the peacekeeping exercise were made familiar with firing systems on display, unmanned aerial vehicles and robots, weapon mobility systems, optoelectronic solutions for aiming and observing, communication means, including mobile ones, special hardware, individual gear for military personnel, including individual armor, medical, mapping and navigational solutions.
The Unbreakable Brotherhood 2016 exercise is a regular one, the fifth one. The exercise is supposed to become an important stage in joint operational and combat training of various parts of the CSTO's force component this year. The exercise will involve officers and soldiers from the armies, the interior troops, and police of all the six CSTO member states (Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Tajikistan) as well as over 500 automobiles, aircraft, and armored vehicles.
