TASS, citing Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Defense, reports that command-staff drill for the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Collective Peacekeeping Force, dubbed “Indestructible Brotherhood-2024”, is being conducted in Kazakhstan from September 26 to October 7.      

According to a statement from the CSTO press center, military contingents from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan joined their Kazakh counterparts for the joint maneuvers, which are being conducted at the Bereg training ground in Kazakhstan’s Almaty region.  

The priorities identified by Kazakhstan, which is chairing the Organization this year, are to improve the issues of ensuring the operational deployment of Troops (Collective Forces), including the unimpeded transit of contingents, as well as the development of the CSTO peacekeeping potential.

Commander of Kazakhstan’s Airborne Assault Troops, Major-General Almaz Dzhumakeyev, is in overall command of the ongoing exercise focusing on the preparation and conduct of a peacekeeping operation by the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Force.  

On October 6, 2007, CSTO member nations 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 nations.

On December 10, 2010, the member nations approved a declaration establishing the CSTO Peacekeeping Force and a declaration of the CSTO member nations, in addition to signing a package of joint documents.

The CSTO peacekeeping forces are made up of specially trained military, police, and civilian personnel from member states, with the composition and size of each peacekeeping mission determined by the CSTO Collective Security Council based on the specific situation and mission requirements.  The formation is reinforced with tanks, artillery, air-defense equipment and other special capabilities.

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

Meanwhile, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on June 12 this year that his country would pull out of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), amid a widening rift with Moscow.  He did not provide details on when and how.