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About 1,500 troops involved in post-Soviet security bloc’s drills in Kazakhstan

The drills involve the peacekeeping contingents from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan

ASTANA, October 18. /TASS/. About 1,500 troops are taking part in the drills Unbreakable Brotherhoodf-2017 of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) at the Ilyisky practice range in Kazakhstan to practice the post-conflict settlement by peacekeeping forces, the press office of Kazakhstan’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"Overall, the drills involve up to 1,500 servicemen and will engage about 200 pieces of armament, military and special hardware and over 25 aircraft (taking into account drones)," the press office said in a statement.

As Kazakhstan’s Defense Ministry said, the joint maneuvers in the past twenty-four hours practiced cohesion of the United Command of the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Force set up on a multi-national basis.

"After receiving an order, the United Command launched measures to organize a peacekeeping operation. At this stage of the drills, a decision was worked out to commit the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Force to a notional country, which is not a CSTO member state. Work is currently under way to develop planning documents for carrying out a joint operation," the ministry explained.

As part of preparations for the upcoming operations in the drills, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross held training for the application of international humanitarian law in a peacekeeping operation.

The drills involve the peacekeeping contingents from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan and police units that are part of the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Force.