DUSHANBE, October 7, 2013, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan is represented by a platoon of the Mobile Troops in the second joint military exercise for the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) collective peacekeeping forces, dubbed the 2013 Indestructible Brotherhood, which was launched at the 255th training ground of the Russian Central Military District, Chebrakul, on October 7, Faridoun Mahmadaliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of Tajikistan said.
According to him, the purpose the exercise, involving 2,500 servicemen from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, is to rehearse cooperation and interaction in carrying out peacekeeping missions.
The exercise reportedly runs through October 10.
The agreement on the peacekeeping activities of the CSTO was signed in Dushanbe on October 6, 2007 and it took effect on January 15, 2009.
We will recall that the CSTO summit that took place in the Tajik capital on October 6, 2007 adopted a set of 20 documents and agreements, including on the formation of a new coordination council on illegal migration and extraordinary situations, the legal basis of peacekeeping activities, and additional measures related to military and technical assistance among CSTO member states.
The regional security organization was initially set up in 1992 in a meeting in Tashkent and Uzbekistan once already suspended its membership in 1999. However, Tashkent returned to the CSTO again in 2006 The regional security organization 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, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan that suspended its membership in 1999 returned to the CSTO again in 2006 after it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005. On June 28, 2012, Uzbekistan announced that it has suspended its membership of the CSTO, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views. The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
