DUSHANBE, July 8, 2014, Asia-Plus – A platoon of the Peacekeeping Battalion of the Mobile Troops of the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan will participate in a joint military exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), dubbed Indestructible Brotherhood 2014, which will be conducted for the CSTO peacekeeping forces in Kyrgyzstan from July 28 to August 1.
“The purpose of this exercise that will be held in three stages is to rehearse coordination and interaction in containing conflicts, escorting humanitarian shipments and repulsing attacks on humanitarian convoys,” Faridoun Mahmadaliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD), told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, peacekeeping contingents from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan will participate in the exercise, the theme of which is “Preparation and Conduct of Peacekeeping Operations by CSTO Peacekeeping Forces in Central Asia.”
The exercise will be conducted at the Ala-Too Training Center in accordance with the Plan of joint operational and combat training of management and formation of forces and means of the Collective Security Treaty Organization for 2014.
The Peacekeeping Battalion of the Mobile Troops of the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan was formed in 2010.
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.
