Official Bishkek has announced that it is canceling military exercise for military personnel of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which was to be conducted in Kyrgyzstan this week, Russia’s RIA Novosti reported yesterday, citing the press center of Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Defense.
The exercise, dubbed The Indestructible Brotherhood-2022, was reportedly scheduled for October 10-14 and was to include military personnel from all six member nations of the CSTO – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
Besides, military personnel from five other countries, including Mongolia, Serbia, Syria, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, were reportedly also supposed to participate in that war game that was to be conducted at the at the Edelweiss training range.
It is to be noted that no reason was given for the cancelation announced on October 9.
Some experts say that it could not be ruled out that suppose that the exercise was canceled due to the recent deadly clashes along Kyrgyzstan’s common border with Tajikistan.
Thus, Former Kyrgyz Vice-President Feliks Kulov told Kommersant in an interview the reason cancellation of the military exercise is one – relationships with Tajikistan.
“It is clear that without the command of the commander-in-chief, President Sadyr Japarov, the military itself could not have taken such a drastic step,” Kulov cited as saying by Kommersant. “People were killed, <…> houses were destroyed in another border war. In such a situation, it was unacceptable to conduct joint exercises. And the exercise name itself — The Indestructible Brotherhood — sounds at least mocking.”
Recall, Kyrgyzstan was involved in deadly clashes with fellow CSTO member Tajikistan along the two countries' border in September, after which it called on the CSTO to take an active role in resolving the dispute.
Bishkek says 63 Kyrgyz nationals were killed and 198 others were injured in those clashes, while Dushanbe says 41 Tajik nationals were killed and 30 others were injured in the latest border clashes.
Kyrgyz lawmakers have reportedly objected to Tajikistan being allowed to participate in the exercises.
Founded in 1992, the Collective Security Treaty Organization is a Russia-led military alliance currently grouping the six former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
