An operational group of the General Staff of Tajikistan’s Armed Forces is participating in a five-day tactical drill in Russia.
According to the Tajik Ministry of Defense (MoD), the drill for military units of the member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), dubbed Poisk-2017 (Search-2017), kicked off at a training ground of Southern Military District of Russia’s Armed Forces in Rostov oblast on October 3.
Military authorities, as well as field intelligence units and special force units of the armed forces of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan are taking part in the drill that will run until October 7.
Southern Military District Forces Commander Alexander Dvornikov is in overall command of the drill that involves more than 1,000 servicemen.
Russia’s Itar Tass reports the multinational command and headquarters will plan a joint operation to localize an armed conflict on the territory of the "enemy" – a CSTO member state – at an automated control post in the Rostov region.
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.
