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Russia's defense industry

Post-Soviet military bloc drill in Tajikistan to involve 2,500 troops, 20 combat aircraft

The exercise will also involve some 200 units of military hardware

© ITAR-TASS/Oleg Davydov

MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/. More than 2,500 troops of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) states will be involved in the military drills in Tajikistan, the CSTO press service told TASS on Thursday. The exercise will also engage some 200 weapons and military equipment units, some 20 combat aircraft. The personnel and military equipment are being moved to the exercise area by 30 military-transport aviation planes.

According to the CSTO press service, the organization member states’ contingents are being moved to the south of Tajikistan to Harbmaydon range. Units of the Armenian armed forces will soon be deployed to the drills area, and a special force brigade of the armed forces of Kyrgyzstan will march from its territory to the range.

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"To control the drills and organize the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Force exercise, the organization’s Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha is flying to Tajikistan today," the press service said, adding that the maneuvers will be conducted under the general command of Chairman of the CSTO Council of Defense Ministers, Tajikistani Defence Minister Lieutenant General Sherali Mirzo.

The CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance, uniting six ex-Soviet nations - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia. Currently, Russia holds the rotating presidency of the organization. Among its fundamental objectives is combating international terrorism. The CSTO aims to strengthen the national and collective security of its members through military-political cooperation, coordinating foreign policy, and establishing cooperation mechanisms. Reportedly, the CSTO is undertaking an effort to develop relationships with the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council, the OSCE, and other security entities.

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