DUSHANBE, August 10, 2012, Asia-Plus – An anti-terror drill for the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) Collective Rapid Reaction Force, dubbed Rubezh-2012 (Frontier-2012) was conducted at the Chebarkul training ground in Russia’s Chelyabinsk oblast from August 6 to August 10.

Russian media sources report the purpose of the exercise was to rehearse coordination and interaction in missions to block and annihilate the base of illegal armed formations.  

The exercise, involving more than 1,000 military personnel from Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan along with armored vehicles, combat helicopters and ground-support aircraft, closed on August 10 with a final phase featuring live-fire missions.

Tajikistan was represented in the exercise by the mountain company of the Mobile Forces and the Operational Group of the Ministry of Defense.

Commander of Russia''s 2Central Military District, Colonel-General Valery Gerasimov, was in overall command of the ongoing war game.

The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) -- Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year.  A 1994 treaty “reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force,” and prevented signatories from joining any “other military alliances or other groups of states” directed against members states.  The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.  In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO.

Uzbekistan became a full participant in the CSTO on June 23, 2006; and its membership was formally ratified by the Uzbek parliament on March 28, 2008.  Uzbekistan, however, suspended its membership in the organization on June 28, 2012.

The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.

An agreement to create the Collective Rapid Reaction Force was reached by five of the seven members on February 4, 2009, with plans finalized on June 14, 2009.  The agreement called on each of the CSTO member nations to provide one battalion for the formation of the force.  The force is intended to be used to respond to the broadest range of threats and challenges.

The CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Force for the Central Asian region is a joint combined task force comprising the Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan, Russian air base deployed in Kant, Kyrgyzstan as well as battalions from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.