MOSCOW, 7 October (BelTA) – The command and staff exercise Nerushimoye Bratstvo 2020 [Unbreakable Brotherhood] for peacemaking forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will take place in Belarus' territory on 12-16 October, BelTA has learned.
The exercise will focus on preparing for and carrying out a peacemaking operation by the CSTO collective peacemaking forces. The exercise will take place in the military exercise area Losvido of the 103rd Independent Guards Airborne Brigade in Vitebsk Oblast. Military contingents of the CSTO member states, operations groups of the CSTO Joint Staff and the CSTO Secretariat, police forces, and units of the emergencies ministries will take part in the exercise.
A total of over 700 people are expected to take part in the exercise. Over 100 units of military hardware and special hardware, including helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, will be deployed as part of the exercise. Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross are expected to observe the exercise.
The purpose of the exercise is to enhance practical skills of commanding officers and staffs of all levels in preparing a peacemaking operation and managing military units of the CSTO collective peacemaking forces in the course of carrying out peacemaking missions. The exercise will also improve combat cohesion of the peacemaking contingents of the CSTO member states to enable them to decisively carry out missions in the course of a peacekeeping operation. The exercise will also step up mutual understanding and cooperation between the peacemaking contingents of the CSTO member states.
The exercise will be divided into a preparatory phase and a practical phase. During the latter the CSTO peacemaking contingents will practice enforcing a ceasefire and observing actions of civilians in the responsibility area, will assist with restoring a peaceful life in the territories affected by combat, will control transportation, and will suppress the illegal transportation of combat hardware, weapons, ammunition, and explosives. The CSTO peacemakers will work together with police forces in order to counteract mass riots.
Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Stanislav Zas and Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov will take part in the exercise.
The CSTO peacemaking forces are a collection of peacemaking contingents, who are supposed to take part in the Collective Security Treaty Organization's peacemaking operations. The peacemaking contingents of the CSTO member states are specially trained military personnel, police personnel, and civilians as well as forces and assets assigned by the member states to the CSTO peacemaking forces. The composition, the structure, and personnel numbers of the collective peacemaking forces are determined by the CSTO Collective Security Council bearing in mind the scope and circumstances of every peacemaking operation. The total strength of the CSTO peacemaking forces is about 3,600 people.
