Exercises with the CSTO Peacekeeping forces have been launched in Tatarstan today. The opening ceremony was held at the training ground of the Kazan Higher Tank Command School.
The military contingents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, military police units, operational groups of the Joint Staff and the CSTO Secretariat, formations of internal affairs bodies, national guards, as well as authorized bodies in the field of prevention and elimination of consequences of emergency situations take part in the exercise under the overall leadership of the commander of the Central Military District, Colonel General Alexander Lapin. A total of 1800 people and 300 pieces of equipment are involved.
During the practical maneuvers, the peacekeeping forces will work out actions at a checkpoint, tasks in a refugee camp, escorting convoys with humanitarian cargo, blocking a settlement, storming a building occupied by "militants", as well as freeing "hostages" and providing assistance to victims.
The head of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, addressing the participants of the exercise, said: "The demand for the organization's peacekeeping potential is dictated by the complex international situation, both in various regions of the world and in the immediate vicinity of the CSTO area of responsibility."
He also noted that it is necessary to be able to use such an effective tool as reconciliation of conflicting parties. It is difficult, but this is one of the most important tasks of the joint forces of the CSTO states. The restoration of normal life where the collision did occur is an important component of the collective security system of the CSTO.
As Anatoly Sidorov said, the CSTO Secretariat, together with the Joint Headquarters and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, is currently developing a mechanism for registering peacekeeping contingents formed on a multinational basis on the basis of the coordinating state. That is, the issues of practical participation of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CSTO in peacekeeping operations conducted under the UN Mandate are being resolved.
Recall that at the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council on November 28, 2019 in Bishkek, it was decided to intensify joint efforts in the peacekeeping direction. At that time, the CSTO stated that embedding the organization's peacekeeping potential into UN peacekeeping activities was becoming a priority. To implement this decision, the necessary changes were made this year to the CSTO documents providing for the formation of "consolidated peacekeeping contingents" for subsequent deployment to one of the UN peacekeeping missions.
Timofey Borisov
