Over 5000 CSTO troops arrive near Tajik-Afghan border for drills

MOSCOW (TASS): Over 5 thousand people will take part in the exercises of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) “Combat Brotherhood – 2021” in Tajikistan. This was announced on Thursday by the head of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov.
“The total number of participants in the joint operational-strategic exercise” Combat Brotherhood – 2021″, who are to perform tasks as part of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces), will be more than 5 thousand people,” he said.
According to Sidorov, over 700 units of weapons, military and special equipment will be involved, including more than 650 units of armored vehicles, up to 20 aircraft, including the Su-24MR and Su-25, over 20 Mi-8MTV and Mi-24 helicopters, as well as 15 unmanned aerial vehicles of various modifications and purposes.
Sidorov said that in the Central Asian region on the territory of Tajikistan, special exercises will be held with the forces and means of material and technical s-upport of the Troops (Coll-ective Forces) of the CSTO Echelon-2021, during wh-ich the issues of organizing material and technical support in preparation and In the course of the joint operation, special exercises wi-th the forces and means of reconnaissance “Poisk-20-21”, during which the issu-es of organizing and conducting reconnaissance will be worked out in the interests of preparing and conducting a joint operation.
Also, joint exercises wi-th the Collective Rapid Re-action Forces (CRRF) of the CSTO “Interaction-20-21” will be held, during which the CRRF will work out the preparation and conduct of a joint operation to localize a border armed conflict.
Military contingents of all six CSTO member states are participating in each of the exercises held within t-he framework of the “Com-bat Brotherhood”. They also involve the formation of special forces and interested ministries and departments, which makes it possible to work out a wide range of issues during the exercises, to outline ways to further improve the joint training of command and control bodies and formations of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces).
Sidorov said that the plan for the Combat Brotherhood 2021 joint operational-strategic exercise provides for possible scenarios for the development of events on the Tajik-Afghan border.
“When developing the plans for the exercise and the procedure for conducting them, we had to take into account possible scenarios for the development of events on the Tajik-Afghan border,” he said.
Sidorov expressed confidence that, considering the worst option during the exercise, the collective forces will not face them in the course of a real situation on the border of the two countries.
In the videoconferencing mode, the event was attended by representatives of the defense departments and the media of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Sidorov said that the range of threats to the military security of the CSTO member states remains wide enough.
“It is worth noting that the spectrum of threats to the military security of the CSTO states remains wide,” he said, summing up the analysis of the evolving military-political situation.
According to him, a combination of factors contributes to the growth of instability of collective security in the Central Asian region and in the future may provoke an escalation of tension to a critical level.
Now the transfer of military contingents from the CSTO member states to the territory of Tajikistan to the areas of the exercises is being carried out. The military transport aviation will make more than 35 aircraft flights. Aircraft of the ar-med forces of Belarus, Ka-zakhstan and the Russia are involved. The units are also sent to Tajikistan on their own and by rail.
From October 18 to 23, at the Momirak and Harb-maidon training grounds of the Tajik Armed Forces, the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) group will work out the tasks of preparing and conducting a joint operation to localize the border armed conflict in the Cen-tral Asian region of collective security, associated primarily with attempts to pe-netrate the territory of sta-tes of fighters of internati-onal terrorist organizations.