The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is conducting the active phase of its Indestructible Brotherhood 2023 peacekeepers’ drills at the Edelweiss training ground in Kyrgyzstan. 

The CSTO’s official website says the exercise, involving about 1,500 peacekeepers from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, more than 200 units of armored and motor vehicles, Mi-8, Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters, Su-25, Su-30 and Il-76 aircraft, unmanned aviation and combat boats, kicked off  on October 9 and runs through October 13.   

Speaking at the opening ceremony, which took place at the Edelweiss training range on October 9, the Deputy Minister of Defense of Kyrgyzstan, Major General Ruslan Mukambetov, noted: “…We are facing important tasks to improve the military component of the Organization and build up its potential for the comprehensive development of the CSTO member nations".

According to him, the joint training "Indestructible Brotherhood - 2023" with the CSTO Peacekeeping Forces was primarily aimed at joint operational and combat training of the units of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the Organization’s member nations. 

At the opening ceremony of the training, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, said: "Possessing an effective tool for reconciling conflicting parties and restoring normal life is an important component of the CSTO collective security system. Today, the CSTO member states have more than 25 years of experience in peacekeeping in different parts of the world.” 

The Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff also noted that the peculiarity of the forthcoming training was that the joint post-conflict settlement actions involve units of the armed forces, internal affairs bodies, police, internal troops and National Guard troops, security and emergency response bodies of the CSTO member states, whose coordinated actions determined the outcome of the training. 

The CSTO Deputy Secretary, Major-General Takhir Khairulloyev, also took part in the opening ceremony of the active phase of the joint training.

According to the CSTO’s official website, the main objectives of the training are in improving the practical skills of officials of the CSTO Peacekeeping Units' management bodies and personnel and enhancing the coherence of military units and subunits in carrying out tasks during a peacekeeping operation in the Central Asian region of collective security. 

In the course of the exercise, the tasks of post-conflict settlement in the crisis zone are being practiced in high altitude conditions, including the conduct of a peacekeeping operation using the forces and means of the CSTO's collective security system and the provision of humanitarian assistance.

The Collective Security treaty Organization includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

On October 6, 2007, CSTO members agreed to a major expansion of the organization to create a CSTO peacekeeping force that could be deployed under a U.N. mandate or without one in its member states.

On December 10, 2010, the member states approved a declaration establishing a CSTO peacekeeping force and a declaration of the CSTO member states, in addition to signing a package of joint documents.