EDELWEISS RANGE, Kyrgyzstan. Sept 9 (Interfax) - The final stage of the Rubezh-2021 exercise involving the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces of the Central Asian collective security region of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has taken place at the Edelweiss range in Kyrgyzstan.
"The exercise participants carried out a joint antiterrorism operation and practiced the preparations for and the accomplishment of missions aimed to destroy illegal armed units invading the territory of an imaginary CSTO member state," the exercise press center said in a statement.
A BM-21 Grad rocket launcher was engaged to inflict maximum damage on the enemy, and a Su-30SM aircraft dropped bombs and delivered a missile strike, the statement said.
Residents of several populated localities, which found themselves in the area of possible hostilities, were evacuated to a camp with proper living conditions and medical service.
The games, supervised by First Deputy Chief of the Kyrgyz Armed Forces' General Staff Col. Artur Temirov, involved military contingents and taskforces from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and the CSTO Secretariat and Joint Staff.
More than 1,000 troops and 150 pieces of hardware, including tanks, infantry combat vehicles, rocket launchers, Su-30SM fighter jets, Su-25 attack planes, and Mi-8 helicopters, took part in the training.
The exercise was held in Kyrgyzstan amid the escalating tensions in Afghanistan, where the Taliban (terrorist movement banned in Russia) had come to power.
At the end of the exercise's final stage, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Col. Gen. Anatoly Sidorov noted the professionalism and cohesion of forces, the press service said.
He said that a primary goal of the exercise was to master skills of commanding officers from the CSTO Collective Forces in organizing combat operations of subordinated troops and troop control during joint operations.
"The exercise goals have been achieved," Sidorov said.
The final stage of the training antiterrorism operation was watched by Kyrgyz Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Baktybek Bekbolotov, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Col. Gen. Anatoly Sidorov, Central Military District Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin, military attaches from a number of foreign countries, including Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan, accredited in Kyrgyzstan, and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.