MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax-AVN) - The Chiefs-of-Staff Committee of the CIS and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will approve the plan of a CIS-scale command post exercise (CPX) scheduled for spring this year at its next session to be held on Tuesday.
"Tomorrow's session which will be chaired by Russian Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Anatoly Kvashnin will focus on two sets of issues related to military cooperation coordination. In particular, it will consider and approve the plan of a CPX codenamed Southern Shield of the Commonwealth in April this year," Lieutenant General Vasily Zavgorodniy, first deputy chief of the CSTO Unified Headquarters, told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Participants in the session will approve the general concept and exact terms of the exercise that is traditionally held in the CIS framework. "They will also approve the strength of forces and assets involved in the CPX, including those representing the Collective Rapid-Deployment Forces. The exercise will take place in Kazakhstan," Zavgorodniy said.
According to him, the session will be attended by chiefs-of- staff of the CIS and CSTO nations, CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha, generals and officers of the Moscow-based CIS Military Cooperation Coordination Headquarters, its chief Army General Vladimir Yakovlev, and leaders of the CIS Anti-terrorist Center. The CIS Military Cooperation Coordination Headquarters will host the event.