Minsk. January 15th. INTERFAX-AVN - President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin worked out the idea and details of the CSTO peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan in an hour.
"This whole operation, down to the details, was developed by two presidents - Russia and Belarus - within one hour. A plan was outlined," Lukashenko said on Saturday at a meeting with peacekeepers who returned from Kazakhstan.
"Both the defense ministries under the leadership of Shoigu (Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense of Russia, - "IF") and Khrenin (Viktor Khrenin, Minister of Defense of Belarus, - "IF") detailed the plan of the two presidents in the general staffs, and within a few hours the first planes flew to Kazakhstan. Everything was done quickly and decisively, without hesitation," Lukashenko said, as quoted by his press service.
According to official data, 2,030 CSTO peacekeepers and 250 pieces of equipment were sent to Kazakhstan. The backbone of the contingent included elite Russian units - the 45th Special Purpose Brigade of the Airborne Troops (Moscow region), the Ulyanovsk Airborne Assault Brigade and the Ivanovo Airborne Division. Other countries have sent small units to Kazakhstan. In particular, the Belarusian Defense Ministry reported that it had sent a peacekeeping company from the 103rd Airborne Vitebsk Brigade of special operations forces to Kazakhstan.
On January 13, the Council of Defense Ministers of the CSTO countries decided to return the peacekeepers. The Kazakh authorities and the CSTO secretariat announced the completion of the peacekeeping operation.
The return of the CSTO peacekeepers from Kazakhstan to the points of permanent deployment began on January 13. The withdrawal will be completed on January 19, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on January 13.
