Engaging maneuver: CSTO to hold eight exercises in 2025
The CSTO will hold a total of eight exercises this year. In particular, the active phase of Combat Brotherhood 2025 will be held in Belarus from September 1 to 6. In Kyrgyzstan will be held "Rubezh-2025", and the CSTO special forces exercise "Cobalt-2025" will be held in Kazakhstan, maneuvers "Barrier-2025" - in Tajikistan, reported "Izvestia" in the organization. Experts draw attention to the significance of the structure for regional security. In particular, it positively proved itself in normalizing the situation in 2022 in Kazakhstan. What capabilities the CSTO possesses and why Armenia's current actions do not diminish its potential are discussed in Izvestia's piece.
CSTO exercises in 2025
Several maneuvers will be held in Belarus this year from September 1 to 6: exercises with the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Force (CRRF) "Interaction-2025", with the forces and means of intelligence "Search-2025", as well as with the forces and means of logistical support of the CSTO CRRF "Echelon-2025". In addition, operational-strategic exercises of the CSTO Collective Forces "Combat Brotherhood" are planned, a source in the organization told Izvestia.
The CSTO peacekeeping forces will work out their combat capabilities during the "Unbreakable Brotherhood - 2025", and the CSTO's RCDBZ and medical support formations - within the framework of the "Barrier-2025" exercises, these maneuvers will be held on the territory of Tajikistan from October 14 to 24.
Servicemen practicing a key episode of the Combat Brotherhood 2023 joint operational-strategic exercise of the CSTO troops, "Interaction", at the Brestsky training range, 2023
Command and staff exercises with the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian region "Rubezh-2025" will be held on the territory of Kyrgyzstan from September 17 to 20.
In addition, special exercises will be held in Kazakhstan with the CSTO Special Operations Forces' command and control bodies and formations Cobalt-2025. In this country, a training and methodological training camp will also be held with the senior staff of security agencies, the Interior Ministry, drug control agencies, internal troops (national guard) and authorized bodies in the field of emergency prevention and response, the interlocutor said.
The CSTO is the largest military-political bloc in Eurasia, which has various forces and means to ensure regional security. The main ones are considered to be the FDLR with a total strength of about 18,000 people. In addition, the organization has the Collective Rapid Deployment Force of the Central Asian Region (CRDF CAR), the main task of which is to participate in repelling external military aggression, as well as in joint counter-terrorist operations. The CSTO has about 5,000 servicemen. In addition, the CSTO has peacekeeping and collective aviation forces.
It should be noted that the CSTO area of responsibility is divided into three main regions of collective security - Eastern European, Caucasus and Central Asian, and each of them has a grouping of troops.
The importance of the CSTO to the region
The CSTO emerged more than 20 years ago, and the organization now includes six countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. It is based on the Collective Security Treaty signed in 1992. The key point of the document is Article 4, which states that if one of the member states is attacked by other countries or a group of countries, it will be considered as aggression against all members of the structure.
A serviceman at the joint exercise "Rubezh-2021" with the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the CSTO Central Asian Collective Security Region in Kyrgyzstan
The importance of the CSTO has especially increased in recent years. Thus, in 2021, Dushanbe requested the organization's assistance in strengthening the Tajik-Afghan border against the background of fighting between the Afghan government army and Taliban fighters (the organization is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities). In early 2022, the Kazakh authorities asked the CSTO to help the republic, where mass riots broke out on January 2. To normalize the situation, a collective peacekeeping force of over 3,000 people was sent to the country. After the situation was resolved, the peacekeepers were withdrawn from Kazakhstan.
- The CSTO remains a structure that allows member countries to coordinate their efforts to counter regional threats," Sergei Margulis, a senior lecturer at the Department of International Politics and Foreign Regional Studies of the ION Presidential Academy, told Izvestia. - Despite the fact that a number of CSTO countries have their own priorities in foreign policy, which do not always coincide, the structure continues to be effective in countering a number of problems that are relevant to all (religious extremism, terrorism). Despite the fact that the CSTO is criticized, the events of January 2022 showed that in some issues the CSTO member states can act jointly and quite effectively.
Consequences of the riots in Alma-Ata. Fire in the building of the City Hall. Fire in the city hall
The main goals of the organization are to strengthen peace, international and regional security and stability, and to protect the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of member states on a collective basis. Additional activities of the CSTO include combating international terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, illegal migration, human trafficking, criminal and destructive activities in the information space.
In addition, the CSTO has developed a system of military-technical cooperation and joint training of military personnel. The former is attractive because Russia provides its allies with the opportunity to purchase arms and military equipment at prices lower than those offered on the world market. The second direction provides for the training of highly qualified personnel in various areas on a preferential and free-of-charge basis. Taking into account the experience that the Russian Federation gained in the course of the Strategic Defense Forces, there are many people willing to adopt advanced methods of training troops and fighting with the use of modern means. At the same time, the foreign policy orientation of some members of the bloc is changing, in particular Armenia, which froze its participation in the CSTO in 2024.
- However, it is important to note that Yerevan is in no hurry to finally leave the organization, assessing all the risks that may follow. Moreover, this "half-step" leaves a window for Armenia to return to the CSTO in the future, if the need arises," Tigran Meloyan, an analyst at the Center for Mediterranean Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia.
Serviceman of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
For Russia, the CSTO's significance is seen in positioning itself in the international arena as a great power and an important participant, whose opinion should be taken into account by the EU and the US when building or reforming the global security system, the analyst said. At the same time, the organization is designed to demonstrate to small and medium-sized countries of the near abroad the existence of an alternative to the North Atlantic security structures, which are inherently hostile to Russia, the expert sums up.
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