DUSHANBE, July 29, 2014, Asia-Plus — Troops from five member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have arrived in Kyrgyzstan to take part in a joint military exercise, dubbed Enduring Brotherhood 20014, which kicked off there today and will last till August 1.
According to the CSTO Secretariat, units from the CSTO”s six member nations — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan – are taking part in this four-day exercise that is being conducted in Ala-Too mountains, near Bishkek.
The military exercise kicked off 11 days after the CSTO”s Collective Rapid Deployment Force, including Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Russian, and Tajik troops, conducted a four-day drill in Russia’s Chelyabinsk oblast.
Meanwhile, Faridoun Mahmadaliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan (MoD), says Tajikistan is represented in the exercise by a platoon of the Peacekeeping Battalion of the Mobile Troops of the Ministry of Defense.
The purpose of the exercise, the theme of which is “Preparation and Conduct of Peacekeeping Operations by CSTO Peacekeeping Forces in Central Asia,” is to rehearse coordination and interaction in containing conflicts, escorting humanitarian shipments and repulsing attacks on humanitarian convoys, Faridoun Mahmadaliyev said.
The exercise is reportedly conducted in three stages 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.
