KHUJAND, April 3, 2010, Asia-Plus — Preparations for the anti-terror drill, dubbed Rubezh-2010 (Frontier-2010), for the Central Asian group of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have been launched in Sughd province.
According to the Sughd military registration and enlistment office, the drill is scheduled to take place in the province in mid-April.
The source at the Sughd military registration and enlistment office says the drill is expected to involve some 2,000 military personnel from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. “Representatives of Uzbekistan will participate in the drill as observers,” the source said.
We will recall that the second round of consultations of military experts from the CSTO member nations that was held in the Tajik northern city of Qiaroqqum on February 25-26 this year resulted in signing of a protocol on conducting the anti-terror drill, dubbed Rubezh-2010 (Frontier-2010), for the CSTO Central Asian group in the Tajik Sughd province in April this year. Senior military experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan participated in the second round of consultations. Uzbekistan did not participate though its representatives were invited.
According to Russian media, the drill that is expected to take place at the Chorukh-Dayron training ground in northern Tajikistan will involve one battalion from Tajikistan, one platoon from Kazakhstan, one company from Kyrgyzstan and one company of the Russian battalion, which is part of the new Collective Operational Reaction Forces (CORF) created within the framework of CSTO.
CSTO is the regional security organization that was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year. A 1994 treaty “reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force,” and prevented signatories from joining any other military alliances or other groups of states directed against members states. The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999; the treaty was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan became a full participant of the organization on June 23, 2006. The CSTO holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-organization cooperation. The CSTO is an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
The organization now groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
