KAZAN. Nov 8 (Interfax) - The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Peace Operations, will create a mechanism for registering multinational peacekeeping contingents on the basis of a coordinating state, Col. Gen. Anatoly Sidorov, the head of the CSTO Joint Headquarters, said at the opening ceremony for the CSTO peacekeeping forces exercise Unbreakable Brotherhood 2021 in Russia's Tatarstan.
"The CSTO Secretariat is now working with the Joint Headquarters and the United Nations Department of Peace Operations on a mechanism for the registration of peacekeeping contingents formed on a multinational basis, on the basis of a coordinating state. That is, issues related to practical participation by the CSTO collective peacekeeping forces in UN peacekeeping operations are being resolved," Sidorov said.
Changes envisaging the formation of "unified peacekeeping contingents," which will later be sent to one of the UN peacekeeping missions, were made to the CSTO documents in 2021, he said.
"Further improvement of the composition of the CSTO peacekeeping forces and their preparation for achieving their missions will be the most important track of development of the organization's collective security system in the coming years," Sidorov said.
The joint exercise with the CSTO collective peacekeeping forces Unbreakable Brotherhood 2021 began at the training range of the Kazan Higher Tank Command School on November 8. The exercise will involve military contingents from Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia, the press service for the Central Military District said.
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 of the Central Military District.