MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax-AVN) - Tajikistan will host a command post exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in April 2005, Lieutenant General Vasily Zavgorodniy, first deputy chief of the CSTO Unified HQ, said on Thursday.
"The main goal of the Rubezh 2005 joint command post exercise (CPX), which will take place in Tajikistan in April next year, is to rehearse coordinated activity of the CSTO Unified HQ, staff bodies of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces, and other staff bodies while preparing joint stabilization efforts in Central Asia," Zavgorodniy told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The exercise will involve operations teams of general staffs from all CSTO member nations and units of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces stationed in Central Asia. "The plan of preparations for and conduction of the CPX in Tajikistan has been worked out and will be approved at today's session of the CSTO Defense Ministers Council," he said.
The aircraft component of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces stationed in Kyrgyzstan's Kant, and units of the 4th Russian military base in Tajikistan will be involved in the CPX, too.
The CSTO Unified HQ started operating in Moscow on January 1, 2004. Its main objective is to control CSTO rapid deployment forces and work out proposals for development of the CSTO military components. The HQ comprises 55 officers and generals who represent the armed forces of the CSTO member nations.
The CSTO currently brings together Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.