MOSCOW, 16 April (BelTA) – The first staff negotiations on organizing joint exercises with the collective forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in 2021 took place in the CSTO Joint Staff on 15-16 April, BelTA has learned.
The negotiations were chaired by First Deputy Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, Lieutenant-General Khasan Kaloyev. Representatives of the ministries and government agencies concerned of Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and the CSTO Secretariat took part in the negotiations. The basic concepts for arranging the joint exercises, the composition of the leadership, operations groups, and the contingents from the CSTO member states were discussed.
There are plans to hold four joint exercises during the joint strategic exercise Boyevoye Bratstvo 2021 [Combat Brotherhood] in the Central Asia collective security region. For the sake of practicing providing support for actions of the CSTO rapid response forces the special exercise for the CSTO logistics command Eshelon 2021 (Echelon), the special exercise for reconnaissance forces Poisk 2021 [Search], and the Vzaimodeistviye 2021 [Interaction] exercise for the CSTO collective rapid response forces will be held in Tajikistan. The exercise Nerushimoye Bratstvo 2021 [Indestructible Brotherhood] for the CSTO peacekeeping forces will be held in Russia.
During these exercises they intend to practice the sequential deployment of components of the CSTO collective forces starting with a joint operation to localize an armed conflict near the border and ending with the post-conflict resolution in territories of Central Asia region countries. These exercises are organized in accordance with the resolution on arranging joint CSTO exercises, which the CSTO Collective Security Council passed on 28 November 2019.
An agreement was reached that the timing and the sequence of measures to prepare these exercises may be adjusted depending on the epidemic situation in the CSTO member states and the resulting preventive measures.
