MOSCOW—The first stage of military exercises on using the Collective Rapid Response Forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization started Wednesday morning.
“Deputy Secretary-General of the CSTO Valery Semerikov will present the plan of the exercises, their aims and tasks and give additional information to representatives of the ministries of defense of the CSTO member-states at the first session within the frames of the joint maneuvers,” Interfax quoted a CSTO representative.
CSTO members are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The theme of the joint military exercises of the CSTO is “preparation and use of the Collective Rapid Response Force and military forces of the CSTO member-states for the sake of ensuring the collective security”.
CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha said earlier the second stage of the exercises would take place in Belarus in the second half of September, and the third stage would be held in Kazakhstan in October.
A decision on the creation of the CRRF was adopted at the CSTO summit in Moscow on February 4.
