MOSCOW, 4 July (BelTA) – Six exercises will be held in 2019 within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), BelTA learned from CSTO Acting Secretary General Valery Semerikov at a press conference in Moscow on 4 July.
The exercises will take place in four countries: Belarus, Russia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. A total of about 12,000 people will take part in them.
Valery Semerikov said that the series of CSTO exercises will begin with the Grom [thunder] exercise in Kyrgyzstan in August. The Grom exercise will be dedicated to fighting illegal drugs trade. It will be followed by the comprehensive exercise Combat Brotherhood. The Echelon exercise is supposed to involve logistics support units. “It is a novelty in CSTO exercises,” Valery Semerikov said. He also remarked that this year's CSTO exercises will focus on stepping up interaction of CSTO collective forces with the national armies and regional military groups.
In 2020 CSTO exercises will be arranged in line with the new regulation on preparing for and carrying out joint exercises. The regulation was passed by recent sessions of the CSTO Defense Ministers Council and the CSTO Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils. The regulation will be submitted for consideration of the CSTO heads of state in November.
