MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. The Military Committee of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has held a video conference meeting, which was chaired by Army General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and First Deputy Defense Minister, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The delegations of the general staffs of the Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Tajik armed forces, as well as officials from the CSTO Joint Staff and the CSTO Secretariat, took part in the meeting.

The parties assessed the military and political situation in the CSTO zone of responsibility along with the security threats and challenges facing the member states, and outlined ways for further defense cooperation.

The meeting’s participants "defined guidelines for the development of the CSTO Collective Air Forces and the establishment of air defenses in the Central Asian region of collective security," the Russian Defense Ministry quoted Gerasimov as saying.

In addition, the delegations paid special attention to plans related to joint operational and combat training. The joint Unbreakable Brotherhood exercise involving the CSTO peacekeeping forces, set to be held in Kazakhstan, will be the keystone event this year. In addition, Kyrgyzstan will host the joint interactive drills with the Collective Rapid Response Forces, as well as exercises with logistics forces and reconnaissance units. Tajikistan, in turn, will host the Frontier joint drills with the Collective Rapid Response Forces in Central Asia.

Besides, updated approaches to using unmanned aerial vehicles and combating drones with electronic warfare, based on the experience gained in the course of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, were presented at the meeting.