MINSK, August 28. /TASS/. Military contingents from Kazakhstan have arrived in Belarus to take part in the joint drills the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Combat Brotherhood 2023, the Belarusian defense ministry said on Monday.
"Representatives of Kazakhstan’s armed forces have arrived in Belarus to take part in the Combat Brotherhood 2023 joint drills," it said, adding that the Kazakh servicemen were welcomed at the Brest airport by Belarusian defense ministry and armed forces officers.
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.
Along with Belarus, which is holding presidency of the CSTO this year, the organization includes Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.