MOSCOW. March 6 (Interfax-AVN) - The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will hold the first large-scale tactical exercises of its Collective Rapid Reaction Forces in Kazakhstan in the middle of the year, a source in the CSTO joint staff in Moscow told Interfax-AVN.
"The Shield 2009 large-scale exercises will be the first maneuvers to tackle the whole range of issues related to the application of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces in practice. They will also address ways to increase the presence of various types of forces and means, including aviation, in a certain area under the control of the Collective Security Treaty. In this case, it will be Kazakhstan," the source said.
The CSTO joint staff and general staff representatives from other CSTO member-countries have already launched preparations for the event, he said.
"The upcoming exercises will involve Russia's Ulyanovsk-based 31st air assault brigade, which is a military component of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces, combat and military transport aircraft," the source said.
All CSTO member-nations plan to participate in these maneuvers, the source said. "The amount of forces and means to be contributed to these exercises by the CSTO's member-states will be specified [at a session] of the CSTO Defense Ministers' Council in the middle of the year," he said.
The CSTO includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.