KAZAN, November 12. /TASS/. Troops from six member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) carried out a peacekeeping operation to liberate a community notionally seized by terrorists during the main stage of the bloc’s Unbreakable Brotherhood 2021 drills in Kazan, the press office of Russia’s Central Military District reported on Friday.
"The joint task force carried out an operation within the shortest time possible to liberate a community captured by a notional enemy. In the course of the exercise, the troops practiced an urban battle requiring special tactics and skills, stormed administrative buildings under the cover of Mi-24 strike helicopters and sniper pairs, landed commandos from Mi-8 rotorcraft onto the roof of the administration’s building by the parachute-free method with the help of ropes from an altitude of 35 meters to free the hostages," the press office said in a statement.
For the first time in the history of the post-Soviet security bloc’s peacekeeping drills, the personnel from the six member states practiced employing integrated electronic warfare systems and shielding hardware from the mock enemy’s strike drones, the statement says.
The troops also practiced integrated measures for the first time to escort humanitarian convoys, employing the latest Patrol special armored vehicles. These vehicles have been accepted for service and are arriving for the Russian Army.
While carrying out the peacekeeping operation in the drills, the bloc’s forces practiced setting up refugee camps to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, the press office said.
"In the buffer zone, the troops equipped about 50 observation posts, 20 checkpoints and practiced the work of psychologists, medics and the evacuation of those heavily wounded. The servicemen of the Republic of Belarus used Lis special-purpose and Kaiman armored vehicles to protect the camp," the Central Military District said.
Unbreakable Brotherhood 2021 drills in Kazan
The Moscow-led bloc kicked off the Unbreakable Brotherhood 2021 peacekeeping drills at a proving ground of the Kazan Higher Tank Command School in the Republic of Tatarstan on November 8. The military contingents from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan are practicing joint peacekeeping operations during the drills running under the command of Central Military District Commander Colonel-General Alexander Lapin.
The maneuvers have brought together about 1,800 troops representing the armed forces and law-enforcement agencies of the CSTO member states and also up to 300 items of armament, including eight Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters and two Su-34 multirole fighter-bombers.