KAZAN. Nov 8 (Interfax) - The Unbreakable Brotherhood 2021 exercise, which involves the collective peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), began at the training range of the Kazan Higher Tank Command School on Monday.
The exercise involves military contingents from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
"Interaction and the cohesion of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, as well as a dynamic increase in cooperation in the military sphere, are needed to neutralize potential threats more than ever in today's conditions. We need to be fully ready to ensure security and maintain peace in our countries," Central Military District Commander Alexander Lapin said at the opening ceremony for the exercise.
In this exercise, the troops will practice stage-by-stage planning and organization of a peacekeeping operation using the experience gained by Central Military District troops in Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh, Lapin said.
"To organize joint actions, we will create within the shortest period of time possible a powerful diversified force from the military contingents of six countries with a unified command system that will be capable of promptly achieving an entire range of tasks to fight international terrorism, resolve conflicts, and protect civilians," he said.
The troops of the separate peacekeeping unit of the Central Military District from the Samara region make up the foundation of the Russian military contingent at this exercise. Russia is also represented at the exercise by the forces and means of communications units, special task units, radioelectronic warfare units, radiation, chemical, and biological protection units, and military police units of the Central Military District.
The exercise will end with a tactical episode on blocking a populated area taken over by illegal armed formations and eliminating them.
The exercise involves in total some 1,800 people who represent the armed forces and law enforcement agencies of the CSTO countries and up to 300 weapons, including eight Mil Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters and two Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft.