Yekaterinburg. November 8. INTERFAX - The exercise of the special forces units of the Central Military District (CVO) "Cobalt-2021" will be held in the second half of November in Tajikistan, the commander of the troops of the Central Military District Alexander Lapin told reporters.
"We will also have a special exercise "Cobalt-2021" in Tajikistan. This is an exercise of special purpose units, which will take place near the Lyaur training ground in the second half of November," he said after the awarding ceremony of the winners of the district stage of the All-Russian Press Festival "Media As Center 2021".
Previously, the press secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Vladimir Zainetdinov told Interfax that a special tactical exercise "Cobalt-2021" with special purpose units of the collective rapid reaction forces of the CSTO is planned in Tajikistan in November. Within the framework of this exercise, tasks will be worked out to curb the activities of illegal armed groups.
Russia has already conducted several exercises near the Afghan border at training grounds in Tajikistan, including international ones. Several thousand servicemen took part in the maneuvers, and military equipment was also involved. The basis of the Russian contingent at the exercises were the units of the 201st military base.
In particular, on October 18-23, three CSTO exercises with the participation of Russia took place at two training grounds in Tajikistan near the border with Afghanistan: "Search-2021" - reconnaissance maneuvers, "Interaction-2021" - rapid response forces, "Echelon-2021" - logistics units. During the exercises, localization of the border armed conflict related to attempts to infiltrate the territory of the CSTO state by militants of international terrorist organizations was worked out.
The CSTO exercises took place against the background of the Taliban movement (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) coming to power in Afghanistan.