The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet defense bloc, started drills in Tajikistan to practice joint action against illegal armed groups, Trend reports citing TASS.
The maneuvers will be a part of CSTO’s Rubezh-2022 exercise.
The Rubezh 2022 exercise is running on October 10-21. The active phase of the drills kicked off on October 17. During the exercise, the collective rapid deployment forces in the Central Asian region will practice combat operations against illegal armed groups that have invaded the territory of a CSTO member state. As many as 1,000 servicemen, and more than 300 items of military and special hardware such as planes, helicopters and drones, are planned to take part in the maneuvers. The Russian military contingent will be mostly represented by servicemen of the Central Military District’s 201st base.