DUSHANBE, March 6, Asia-Plus -- The final combat phase for units from the Rapid Deployment Force of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Central Asia, dubbed Rubezh (Frontier) 2007, has started in Tajikistan. 

The purpose of the war game launched at the Lohour training ground today, some 20 kilometer southwest of Dushanbe, is to rehearse coordination and interaction in combat missions in mountains and deserts.  Flag officer from the Tajik Defense Ministry (MoD), Major-General Qodir Teshayev, and the first deputy commander of the CSTO Unified Staff, Colonel-General Ivan Babichev, are in overall command of the ongoing war game.        

Tajik First Deputy Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General Ramil Nadyrov, said in an interview with Asia-Plus that the exercise’s scenario is based on armed groups of international terrorists intruding from a neighboring state and capturing a number of border settlements.  As a result, Tajikistan is confronted with serous and dangerous enemy and requests assistance.  Battalions of the CSTO Rapid Deployment Force in Central Asia come to the aid of Tajik military units.    

The exercise at the Lohour ground training involves some 500 military personnel from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Russia, along with 50 armored vehicles and ground-support aircraft SU-25 and combat helicopters Mi-24.    

According to General Nadyrov, representatives Armenia, Belarus and Uzbekistan are attending the war game as observers. 

We will recall that the first phase of the military exercise Rubezh-2007 started in the territory of the Russian Federation on March 27.  The first phase that lasted until March 29 was devoted to the use of forces and equipment in a simulated counterterrorist operation in the Central Asian region.     

The second phase of exercise started in Dushanbe on April 3.  The staff-command drill in Dushanbe was centered on the decision-making process and considered issues related to a decision on carrying out antiterrorist operation made by commander of the CSTO rapid reaction force deployed in Central Asia region.

The exercise with close today with a final phase at the Lohour training ground featuring live-fire missions with ground-attack aircraft and combat helicopters.   

            The exercise is a partnership for regional security within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.  It is already the fifth war game conducted by the CSTO member nations under the codename of Rubezh.  A similar CSTO exercise was held in Kazakhstan last year.  These exercises are intended to test the CSTO''s collective rapid deployment force.  

CSTO members - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan - use the organization as a platform for fighting drug trafficking, terrorism, and organized crime, and have pledged to provide immediate military assistance to each other in the event of an attack. The bloc has a Collective Rapid Reaction Force deployed in Central Asia, and is continuing to build up its military forces.