DUSHANBE, October 28, 2010, Asia-Plus — The management officers and the parachute company of the Tajik Ministry of Defense (MoD) participating in military exercises for Collective Operational Reaction Forces (CORF) of the Collective Security treaty Organization (CSTO) have won high won a high appraisal of the drill command, Faridoun Mahmadaliyev, a spokesman for a MoD, told Asia-Plus today.
The exercises, dubbed Interaction-2010, kicked off at the Chebarkul training ground in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region on October 25 and according to Mahmadaliyev they are closing today with a final phase featuring live-fire with ground-attack aircraft and helicopters.
The exercises have reportedly involved 1,700 servicemen, 250 armored vehicles and over 30 combat aircraft and helicopters.
The purpose of the exercises is to rehearse coordination and interaction between the CORF subunits in localizing armed conflicts within the area of the regional security.
The CSTO is a regional security organization comprising the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
RIA Novosti reports that five of the seven members signed an agreement on the creation of the Collective Operational Reaction Forces within the CSTO in February 2009. Belarus, which initially refrained from signing the deal because of a trade dispute with Russia, joined later last year.
The CORF is a Russian initiative intended to transform and expand by three to four times the existing CSTO rapid reaction dimension into a permanently ready, combat-capable force designed for intervention in crisis situations on the territory of CSTO member states. The CSTO members say the CORF is designed to improve the security of the CSTO members against existing and potential threats, including terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and natural disasters, and to enhance the organization”s role in ensuring international security.
