The CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov held an expert meeting with Kirill Babaev, Director of the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Briefing by the Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff took place
On 30 January, the CSTO Crisis Response Centre hosted a briefing by Colonel-General Andrei Nikolayevich Serdyukov, Chief of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Hero of the Russian Federation, on the theme “Results of joint training of the CSTO collective security system's command and control bodies and formations of forces and means for 2024 and tasks for 2025”.
Representatives of the press services of the defense agencies and accredited mass media of the CSTO member states took part in the event via videoconferencing.
During the event, the Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff spoke about the main trends in the military and political situation in the Organization's area of responsibility, the results of joint trainings last year, the priorities of the Joint Staff's activities and the set of measures planned as part of the joint operational and combat training of the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) for 2025.
Information from the briefing:
Summing up the results of joint training, it should be noted first of all that the work of the Joint Staff and of the Organization as a whole in the past year took place in the context of the continuing increase in instability and turbulence in global processes and growing contradictions in world politics. This had a significant impact on the conflict potential in a number of regions directly adjacent to the Organization's collective security zone, which requires our increased attention and readiness for an adequate and effective response.
The work of the Joint Staff in 2024 was built in accordance with the decisions of the November 2023 session of the Collective Security Council, the Council of Ministers of Defense and the Military Committee, with a focus on implementing the priorities of the Chairmanship of the Republic of Kazakhstan. At the same time, our key task remained the maintenance of stability and security in the Organization's area of responsibility, as well as ensuring the high readiness of the Collective Forces to carry out their earmarked tasks.
With this in mind, the focus has been on improving the mechanisms for making and implementing collective decisions on the use of the force component in the interests of localizing possible armed conflicts and stabilizing the situation.
During the past year, much attention was paid to improving the activities of the Crisis Response Centre, and first and foremost to the issues of its interaction and information exchange with authorized national bodies.
Given the evolving environment, the 2024 Joint Staff has worked hard to ensure that the focus of joint training is relevant to the real world.
During the year, a set of preparatory measures was consistently carried out, in the course of which the plans and procedures for conducting trainiings and practical actions of troops, as well as the organization of command and comprehensive support, were worked out and agreed upon.
Main results of joint training activities in 2024
Within the framework of joint training of management bodies and formations of forces and means of the collective security system in 2024, the following activities were carried out:
on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic - a command-staff training with the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces “Interaction”, special trainings with the forces and means of intelligence “Search” and with logistics forces “Echelon”.
In order to improve the quality of the training issues and to build up forces and means, the CRRF contingents were additionally joined by national units of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan, as well as personnel and naval vessels of the Russian Navy in the waters of Lake Issyk-Kul. This made it possible to significantly increase the range of combat training tasks practiced, including air defense and biosecurity of the multinational grouping of troops.
A command-staff training with the CSTO Peacekeeping Forces “Indestructible Brotherhood” was conducted on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In accordance with the mandate of the Collective Security Council, the Collective Peacekeeping Forces successfully carried out training tasks to maintain a ceasefire between the warring parties. I believe it is important to note that the experience gained by the Kazakhstan side of the United Nations peacekeeping mission contributed to the success of this training.
At the final stage of the joint training on the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan, a joint training “Rubezh” was conducted with units of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian region.
Prior to the training, an operational training session and practical exercises on the organization of combat operations based on the best practices of a special military operation were held with the Group Command.
The training examined the organization of air cover for units and the interaction between the Central Asian Regional Rapid Deployment Force Command and the air defense control points of the Tajikistan Armed Forces and the 201st military base of the Russian Armed Forces.
In all, more than 5,000 personnel took part in the joint trainings and more than 900 units of weapons, military and special equipment were used.
It is important to note that the joint trainings were conducted with maximum account taken of the experience of modern armed conflicts. The training and research objectives were achieved, and the personnel of the units and subunits involved showed good field training and coherence.
Officers received practice in preparing and conducting joint operations as part of multinational teams and improved their practical skills in the use of contingents of the Organization's member states.
Separately, the Joint Staff, together with the Organization's Secretariat, has made significant efforts to improve information support in order to raise awareness of the Organization's activities. Joint press centers with accredited journalists were established for the duration of joint trainings to provide information coverage. The joint events received extensive coverage in more than 600 stories and television reports in the leading media outlets of our states.
The Joint Staff is grateful to the teams of national information units and editorial offices for their high professionalism and active information support for the events held in the Organization's format.
Speaking of the results of the past year, it should be emphasized that the Joint Staff worked actively to develop and harmonize basic normative legal documents on the preparation and use of components of the CSTO Collective Forces.
The Decision of the Council of Defense Ministers and the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils “On Approval of the Framework for the Training and Use of Collective Rapid Reaction Forces”, adopted at a joint meeting in November 2024, is essential for the further development of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces.
It is also necessary to note the effective work done jointly with the Kazakh Chairmanship to improve issues related to ensuring the operational deployment of the Collective Forces, including the unimpeded (non-stop) transit of contingents, military aviation flights and other aspects.
As a result of this work, during the autumn session the heads of states signed documents providing for the introduction of amendments to the basic agreements with regard to the simplification of procedures for the transit transport of military and other formations, their movable property and military products.
In addition, documents concerning the equipping of components of the armed forces with modern and promising models of weapons and military equipment were considered and signed.
In the interests of improving coalition military construction, a draft Plan for the development of military cooperation for the next planning period, 2026-2030, has been drawn up. The draft document includes measures for the development of the military component, primarily aimed at improving the management of the components of the Collective Forces, their composition and the equipping of them with modern, advanced and compatible weapons.
Main activities of joint training in 2025
The “Plan for Joint Training of the CSTO Collective Security System's Management Bodies and Formations of Forces and Means for 2025” was approved by the Council of Defense Ministers and the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils of the CSTO member states.
Within the framework of the priorities of the Kyrgyz Republic's chairmanship, the CSTO Joint Staff will have to conduct at a high level all the planned trainings and command-staff training of the forces and means of the collective security system in order to improve decision-making mechanisms and the practical skills of the management bodies.
Taking into account the nature of contemporary challenges and threats and the forecast of the possible development of the situation in the Organization's area of responsibility, a variant of the military, political and strategic situation has been developed and agreed upon with all interested parties, which has been taken as the basis for the conduct of joint activities in 2025. The main emphasis is placed on threats to collective security in the Eastern European and Central Asian regions of collective security.
The key event determining the initial data for the joint trainings is the Strategic command and staff training planned for March of this year for the Joint Staff, the Secretariat and the interested ministries and departments of our states.
For the first time during the training, it is planned to work on the preparation of proposals and draft decisions on the formation and deployment of all components of the Collective Forces.
The strategic training will also feature the participation of:
the task force of the Anti-Terrorist Center of the Commonwealth of Independent States - in order to prepare mutually linked proposals on the use of special forces formations in the fight against terrorism and extremism within the CSTO and the CIS;
representatives of the Secretariat of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, as observers, to study the issues of interaction with the parliamentary structures of states in order to improve the mechanisms and shorten the timeframe for crisis response.
The documents worked out during the training will serve as a basis for the development of plans for joint trainings in 2025.
In the current year, the plans envisage holding:
in September - in the Republic of Belarus - a joint training with the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces “Interaction-2025”, special trainings with forces and means of intelligence “Search-2025”, with logistics forces “Echelon-2025”.
It is planned to closely link the intentions of these trainings with the objectives of the joint strategic training “West-2025” between the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation.
In the first half of October, in the Kyrgyz Republic, it is planned to hold an operational meeting with the Command and a command-staff training with units of the Central Asian region's Collective Rapid Deployment Forces “Rubezh-2025”;
in the second half of October - in the Republic of Tajikistan, a joint training with the Peacekeeping Forces, “Indestructible Brotherhood-2025”, and a special training with a joint NBC defense and medical support formation, “Barrier-2025”.
An important new aspect of the joint preparations is the planned organization in Tajikistan in the current year of an interconnected anti-terrorist training of the competent authorities of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the peacekeeping training “Indestructible Brotherhood-2025”, which are united by a common socio-political situation, location and time.
This training will be conducted in accordance with the agreements reached in the Memorandum of Cooperation signed in 2024 between the Organization and the CIS Anti-Terrorism Centre to ensure cooperation between regional organizations in the fight against terrorism and extremism.
Interstate harmonization of all issues related to the preparation of the joint trainings will be carried out during staff talks and working meetings.
Joint activities will be carried out at a high level in order to achieve the main goal of maintaining the readiness of the Collective Forces to adequately respond to crisis situations and fulfill collective security tasks.
Throughout 2025, the Joint Staff will have a large number of equally important and complex tasks to perform in other relevant areas of the Organization's military development.
One of the priority tasks for the year is the development of the forces and means of the collective security system and the further improvement of their management system, taking into account the arrival of new armaments and equipment for the troops assigned to the Collective Forces, as well as ensuring their readiness to carry out their earmarked tasks.
As part of coalition military construction, joint work will continue with defense agencies to coordinate views on the formation of the planned shape of the Organization's force component in the long term.
It is planned to make active use to this end of the scientific potential of basic training and methodological and research organizations.
The motto of the current year under the chairmanship of the Kyrgyz Republic is “80 Years of the Great Victory”. In this context, our principal task in 2025 is to implement the “Plan of Measures to Celebrate the 80th Anniversary of Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” approved by the CSTO Collective Security Council in Astana.
I am convinced that in 2025 we will be able to achieve all the goals set by the heads of states.