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Military drills

Russia-led security bloc chief confirms plans to hold peacekeeping drills in Kyrgyzstan

According to Stanislav Zas, Kyrgyzstan’s request was motivated by a lack of suitable conditions

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. The postponed autumn drills of the peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russia-led security bloc in Kyrgyzstan, will be conducted later, CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said on Monday.

"This year we have skipped only one drill, namely peacekeeping forces’ drills that were originally planned to be held in Kyrgyzstan this autumn. The Kyrgyz side asked us to postpone these drills," he told a news conference on the results of the organization’s activities in 2022.

According to Zas, Kyrgyzstan’s request was motivated by a lack of suitable conditions. "We will hold them, but later," he stressed.

At the same time, he noted that "all activities of the joint training of command bodies and forces of the CSTO collective security system were performed with high quality."

The CSTO drills titled Indestructible Brotherhood 2022 were originally scheduled to be held at the Edelweiss firing range in Kyrgyzstan from October 10 through 14. However, a few days before the event, Bishkek refused to host them. Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Edil Baisalov later explained that this decision had been made after an armed conflict on its border with Tajikistan, which is also a CSTO member.

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