Tajikistan to host CSTO military exercise in November

BREST. KAZIFORM An army exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) collective forces will take place in Tajikistan in November, BelTA learned from Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov after the 11th session of the CSTO Military Committee in Brest on 2 November, according to BelTA .

According to the source, the exercise is scheduled for 10-20 November. There are plans to deploy about 5,000 personnel and a large number of military hardware, including various kinds of aerial units, drones, and missile systems. The exercise will take place in five exercise areas in Tajikistan and is likely to be the final large event of the year.

A regular session of the CSTO Military Committee took place in Brest on 2 November. Representatives of Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan took part in it. The session focused on the military-political situation and the strategic situation in collective security regions. Risks, threats, and challenges to domestic regional and national interests were determined. Participants of the session discussed the joint combat training plan and exchanged views about the operation of crisis response centers, which started working in all the CSTO member states on 1 September.

Summing up results of the meeting, Chairman of the CSTO Military Committee, Chief of the General Staff of the Belarusian army, Belarusian First Deputy Defense Minister Oleg Belokonev noted: "We are reaching new quality heights in planning and deploying not only the collective rapid response forces but all the armed forces, which are capable and ready to carry out joint missions in any CSTO member state."