A tactical exercise the special units of the Collective Security Organization (CSTO) Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF) will take place in Tajikistan from November 17 to November 19.
The exercise, dubbed Cobalt-2021, will be conducted at the Fakhrobod training ground and it will involve the special force units of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan as well as subunits of Tajikistan’s Border Troops and Emergencies Committee, according to the press center of the Central Military District of the Russian Federation (CMD).
Russia will be represented by servicemen of the CMD special force unit and the reconnaissance battalion of the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan. In all, 60 servicemen, ten military assets and two MI-8MTV5-1 helicopters of the air group of the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan will represent Russian in the upcoming war game.
The main purpose of the exercise is to rehearse interaction in conducting military missions in the areas of collective security, says the CDM press center.
The training will be conducted in two stages. During the first stage, the issues of formation and
The Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan is Russia's largest non-naval military facility outside the country. It was officially opened in Tajikistan in 2004 under a previous agreement, which was signed in 1993, and hosts Russia’s largest military contingent deployed abroad.
A total of some 7,000 Russian troops are now stationed at two military facilities collectively known as the 201st military base – in Dushanbe and Bokhtar (formerly Qurghon Teppa, some 100 kilometers from Dushanbe.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization is a Russia-led military alliance created in 1992, grouping the six former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
The Collective Rapid Reaction Force is a joint combined arms task force comprising independent military units from the CSTO member nations.
CRRF currently comprises following units: Russia — 98th Guards Airborne Division (Ivanovo) and 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade (Ulyanovsk); Kazakhstan — 37th Separate Air Assault Brigade (Taldykorgan) and Marine forces battalion; Belarus — Spetsnaz brigade; Armenia — infantry battalion; Kyrgyzstan — infantry battalion; and Tajikistan — infantry battalion. The total strength of CRRF is reportedly more than 17,000 servicemen.
The first joint exercises of CRRF were held in October 2009 at Matybulak firing range in Kazakhstan near the border with China.
