NOVOSIBIRSK, August 16. /TASS/. Special forces from member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) practiced joint actions to neutralize terrorists, free hostages and mop up a simulated enemy on the final day of the Cobalt-2024 special exercise on Friday.

The drills involved warfare and drones, a TASS reporter at the Gorny training center in the Novosibirsk Region, in Russia’s Siberia, said.

"The work is over, and the heads of the exercise will give an assessment of how all units performed. <...> The leaders <...> discuss operational security," Anatoly Seryshev, Russian presidential envoy to the Siberian Federal District, said at the closing ceremony. "You and I see how the world is changing rapidly and how increasingly more leaders and nations fight for justice and the right to independent development without any external pressure. In these circumstances <...>, we should stick together," he added.

In one of the exercises, simulated criminals attempted to destabilize the social and political situation in the local village of Gorny by distributing "narcotics." The location of an "illegal armed formation" was mopped up, but a group of "criminals" escaped to the village of Novye Vasyuki.

Another exercise involved aerial surveillance of a route using a drone. The drone operator tracked a group of "aggressive locals" who blocked military vehicles. Law enforcement agents demined the road using a kamikaze robot on the track platform after clearing the way. Then, with support from armored vehicles, the assault team approached the entrance to a private home and afterward mopped up the "criminals." However, some "criminals" disappeared in a forest. As a result, the commander decided to kill the "enemy" as he fired a dummy anti-tank grenade launcher.

In the final drill, three "criminals" seized a bus carrying passengers. They demanded a large ransom and a helicopter as they threatened to shoot their hostages and detonate an improvised bomb. During an assault operation, one "criminal" was killed, and the other two were arrested.

During the three days of the drills, participants practiced new forms and methods of actions involving groups of forces and means and tested new samples of weapons, military hardware and tactical use of drones. Representatives of interested ministries and agencies from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan took part in the exercise.