ASTANA – In the multi-day exercises beginning on August 18th, the armed forces of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan will work on possible contingencies in the Central Asian collective security region. Titled Interaction 2014, the event will be held in the Spassk training field.
The aim of Interaction 2014 is to solidify the cohesiveness of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) Collective Rapid Reaction Force governance structure. Kazakh Minister of Defence Serik Akhmetov travelled to the site for a preliminary inspection of the preparations and the garrison.
Military units from the Air Assault Brigade of the Russian Airborne Troops, the Air Forces of Kazakhstan, the mobile team from the Special Operations Forces of Belarus, the Special Forces of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyz Republic and a commando squadron from Tajikistan will participate in the exercises. The total number of exercise participants will be about 3,000 people. The exercise will involve more than 200 pieces of military equipment and about 30 aircraft.
Besides fulfilling practical missions, issues of information and psychological warfare will be addressed for the first time during the training. The exercises will also include the provision of cybersecurity and ways of affecting the software of potential enemies.
CSTO Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Alexander Studenikin will be leading the training. CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha is also to be in attendance.
