VITEBSK DISTRICT, 12 October (BelTA) – The command and staff exercise Nerushimoye Bratstvo 2020 [Indestructible Brotherhood] for peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) began in the military exercise area Losvido in Vitebsk District on 12 October, BelTA has learned.
The exercise will last through 16 October. 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 are taking part in it. A total of over 900 people are taking part in the exercise. Over 120 units of military hardware and special hardware, including helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, will be deployed as part of the exercise.
Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, First Deputy Defense Minister, Major-General Aleksandr Volfovich, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, Deputy Chief of the Staff of the Central Military District of Russia's Armed Forces, Major-General Rustam Minnekayev, and representatives of the CSTO Secretariat also took part in the opening ceremony.
Aleksandr Volfovich noted that an analysis of the situation in the world and in post-Soviet countries (conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine) indicates that the situation is rather complicated. Only consolidated efforts of the allies, security-enhancing actions of international and regional organizations can bring calm and can prevent conflicts or suppress them early on. “Belarus has always been in favor and will continue speaking in favor of stepping up interaction within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Today's exercise vividly testifies to the justifiability of the organization while strategic deterrence measures allow cooling off some hotheads. I am convinced we will share the best practices and will improve the cohesion of staffs and troops. We will prove that the Collective Security Treaty Organization contributes to peace and stability in our countries,” he said.
Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov added that the demand for peacekeeping forces is on the rise: at present the CSTO peacekeeping forces include over 3,500 people. Although staging a larger exercise is impossible this year due to the pandemic, this exercise remains topical and important.
In the course of the exercise the CSTO collective peacekeeping forces will practice preparing for and carrying out a peacemaking operation in the Eastern Europe collective security region.
The organization of the CSTO command and staff exercise Indestructible Brotherhood is part of the plan on the joint training of command bodies, assets, and forces of the collective security system. Indestructible Brotherhood exercises have been held in one of the CSTO member states every year since 2012.
