Putin announces new CSTO military exercises

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Friday upcoming military exercises of the Moscow-led bloc Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Speaking at a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Sochi, Putin noted that this year, Russia and Kazakhstan mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and that the two countries closely work in many domains.

"Our ministries and departments are actively working, the intergovernmental commission is actively working. The foreign ministries (of Russia and Kazakhstan) and the ministries of defense are jointly preparing various events, including joint exercises within the framework of the CSTO," Putin said.

Earlier, the military service of Kazakhstan reported holding talks with the CSTO counterparts about preparation and conducting special exercises Search (Poisk)-2022, Echelon-2022, and Interaction-2022.

The CSTO representatives agreed on the key parts of the exercises, the contingents, and other organizational issues.

All exercises, combining the training of various components of the CSTO troops, are planned to be held in a single operational environment on the territory of Kazakhstan at the Matybulak training ground.

In particular, during the special exercise Search-2022, issues of organizing and conducting intelligence will be worked out, while the Interaction-2022 will provide for working out issues of preparing and conducting a joint operation to localize an armed conflict in the Central Asian region of collective security areas.