MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. There is no issue with Tajikistan’s participation in the Indestructible Brotherhood 2023 drills of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to be held in Kyrgyzstan, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov said on Monday.

"I will say that we have eight officers and generals from Tajikistan, and eight officers and generals from Kyrgyzstan, serving on the Joint Staff. And I have never heard any of them say a rude word to anyone else. We are all friends and communicate normally. We are all working to fulfill the tasks set for the Joint Staff. So, I don’t see any problems," he told a briefing.

"To date, the official position of the Tajik defense ministry, which is reflected in the outcome of the talks between the staffs, is that Tajik servicemen will take part in these drills," Sidorov said, adding that tensions between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan over disputed border sections "have no influence on the general situation either in Tajikistan, or in Kyrgyzstan, or within the Collective Security Treaty Organization."

"Everyone understands why these problems surface from time to time and understands that good, friendly, allied relations are much more important than any argument over these problems. They will ultimately be resolved over time," he noted.

The drills are envisioned as a joint exercise with the CSTO collective rapid reaction forces, dubbed Combat Brotherhood 2023. Several special drills are planned to be held under the aegis of the Combat Brotherhood-2023 exercise in Belarus from September 1 through 6: Interaction-2023 will drill the application of the CSTO collective security system’s forces and equipment for settling a hypothetical crisis situation in the CSTO Eastern-European collective security region; Search-2023 will involve personnel and resources from CSTO member states’ military intelligence units; Echelon-2023 will use manpower and assets from CSTO (Collective Forces) military logistics units; and Barrier-2023 will involve a joint formation of the CSTO radiological, chemical and biological protection force and medical support units. Apart from that, it is planned to hold Rock-2023 drills with emergency ministry units. The final stage of the Combat Brotherhood drills will be the Indestructible Brotherhood-2023 peacekeepers’ drills in Kyrgyzstan.