Briefing by the Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff on the readiness of the management bodies and formations of the forces and means of the CSTO collective security system to conduct joint trainings

Colonel-General Andrey Nikolaevich Serdyukov, Chief of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, held a briefing on the topic "On the readiness of the management bodies and formations of the forces and means of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to conduct joint trainings."

Representatives of the press services of the defense departments and the media of the CSTO member states took part in the event via videoconferencing.

During the briefing, the Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff informed about the goals and objectives of the joint trainings, their specifics, the forces and means involved, and also stated the readiness of the governing bodies and formations of forces and means to conduct the trainings.

Information on the briefing materials is provided below.

"Joint training in 2025 is being conducted in a very difficult military and political situation. The crisis of the entire system of international relations has significantly intensified the processes of global restructuring, provoked an aggravation of the geopolitical situation in the area of responsibility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and in the world as a whole.

I consider it important to note right away that all ongoing events and trainings are planned, are not directed against third countries and are aimed at improving the coherence of command and control bodies and troops, as well as maintaining the readiness of formations of forces and means to carry out their earmarked tasks in the interests of ensuring collective security.

At the same time, taking into account long-term planning and the current situation, the main focus this year is on the Eastern European and Central Asian regions of collective security.

To date, the Joint Staff, together with the Secretariat and the defense departments of the Organization's member states, has carried out extensive preparatory work for the upcoming trainings, including consultations, staff negotiations, separate and joint staff training, working meetings to develop and coordinate the plans of the trainings, and reconnaissance of their areas.

Special importance in this training was given to the holding of a strategic command and staff training in March, during which the functional groups of the Crisis Response Center, together with the operational groups of our states, for the first time worked out draft decisions of the statutory bodies on the use of all components of Collective Forces.

These documents later formed the basis for the plans for the upcoming joint trainings.

This year, we consider practical elaboration of management issues and coordination of the Collective Forces as one of our priorities.

To this end, before the start of the joint trainings, it is planned for officers of the Joint Staff to conduct instructional and methodological classes with trained officers on the organization of management and coordination of commands of groups of the Collective Forces, taking into account the experience of the Russian Armed Forces in conducting a special military operation. At the same time, special attention will be paid to the use of unmanned aircraft, which today has become one of the most effective means of conducting combat operations, as well as the specifics of creating a system to counter enemy UAVs.

The ability of drones to perform various tasks, such as conducting reconnaissance, delivering fire strikes, and delivering materiel, has significantly increased their capabilities on the battlefield.

In order to ensure uniform approaches to the organization and management of electronic warfare by groups of troops, during the training with the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces, it is planned to test the Recommendations on electronic warfare for groups of Troops developed by the Joint Staff together with the defense departments.

In addition, this year, within the framework of military-technical cooperation, agreements were reached to demonstrate during joint trainings the capabilities of modern weapons, military and special equipment developed by leading enterprises of the military-industrial complex of the CSTO countries.

The main event of operational and combat training is the joint training "Interaction-2025" conducted in early September in the Republic of Belarus at the “Losvido” and “Lepelsky” training grounds with the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces. In the interests of ensuring this, special trainings will be conducted with the forces and means of reconnaissance "Search-2025" and logistics "Echelon-2025".

The peculiarity of these trainings is that their plans are closely linked to the plan of the joint strategic training of the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation “West-2025”. At the same time, the main task of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces is to ensure the deployment of a regional group of troops.

In the second decade of September, the command and staff training “Rubezh-2025” with units of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian region is being held on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic on the basis of the “Edelweiss” Training Center.

In order to improve the coordination of management bodies during the planning of military operations, an operational meeting will be held with the Command of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian region.

During the training, they will practically be worked out:

planning and conducting military operations to eliminate illegal armed groups, taking into account the peculiarities of the mountainous landscape;

air defense cover of the contingents at all stages;

blocking the area of military operations from the lake area, creating and maintaining an operational regime in a given area.

Also, during the practical actions of the troops, the use of combat aircraft of our states is planned.

In mid-October, a joint training with the CSTO Peacekeeping Forces "Indestructible Brotherhood-2025" is being held at the “Fakhrabad” training ground in the Republic of Tajikistan.

For the first time, within the framework of a peacekeeping training, a special training will be conducted with the joint formation of the “Barrier-2025” NBC protection and medical support, during which it is planned to practically work out the tasks of eliminating biological threats in the interests of Collective Peacekeeping Forces.

An important new aspect is that the active phases of these training will be conducted in a combined format with the final stage of the joint anti–terrorist training of the competent authorities of the CIS member states "Commonwealth of Antiterrorism-2025".

During all the trainings, it is planned to conduct research on topical issues of increasing the effectiveness of the use of Collective Forces with the involvement of profile specialists from the basic educational, methodological and research organizations of the CSTO.

The Joint Staff, together with the CSTO Secretariat and the host states, agreed on all issues on the invitation of representatives of non-member states and international organizations as observers.

In total, during the joint trainings in 2025, more than five thousand personnel and about one thousand units of weapons, military and special equipment will be involved.

Practical arrangements for the deployment of national contingents to the training areas have already begun. Troops and equipment are delivered to the training grounds by military transport aircraft, rail and road transport.

Taking into account the volume of completed tasks and activities, I am confident that the joint trainings will be conducted in an organized and high–quality manner, and the educational and research goals will be achieved. The Collective Forces will show high field training and coordination of actions.

Today we declare the readiness of the management bodies and formations of the forces and means of the collective security system to conduct joint trainings.

I stress that the activities carried out by the Organization are the basis for strengthening peace, international and regional security and stability, and the collective protection of the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of our states, which the member states prioritize through political means.

It should also be noted that in the year of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, during the joint training, we planned solemn events with military honors aimed at preserving the historical memory of the heroic struggle of the multinational Soviet people who defeated Nazism."