On July 15, 2026, the High-Level Regional Meeting “Enhancing Capacities to Prevent the Supply of Weapons to Terrorists in Central Asia” was held in Moscow, organized by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism with the participation of the Russian side.
On July 14, 2026, a working meeting was held at the CSTO Secretariat between CSTO Deputy Secretary General Valery Semerikov and UN Assistant Secretary-General Alexander Zuev.
From July 7 to 9, second staff talks were held in the Russian Federation on the organization and conduct of the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF) command-and-staff exercise “Interaction-2026”, the special reconnaissance exercise “Poisk-2026”, and the logistics support exercise “Echelon-2026”.
In accordance with the 2026 Action Plan of the Coordinating Council of Heads of the Competent Authorities for Countering Illicit Drug Trafficking of the CSTO Member States, and as part of the Russian Federation's priorities during its 2026 CSTO Chairmanship, the sub-regional counter-narcotics operation “Kanal – Amber Coast” was conducted from June 29 to July 3, 2026. The operation was aimed at disrupting trafficking routes for narcotic drugs, their precursors and analogues, new psychoactive substances, and potent substances into the CSTO area of responsibility, neutralizing international transnational drug trafficking groups, dismantling clandestine drug production facilities, undermining the economic foundations of the drug trade, including the laundering of drug proceeds.
"Interaction-2023”: special forces units conducted an anti-terrorist operation
05.09.2023
Today, on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, as part of the joint training with the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF) "Interaction-2023", which is being conducted under the charge of Major-General Vadim Denisenko, the joint actions of special forces units during an anti-terrorist operation, were practiced.
The forces of the “Almaz” special anti-terrorism unit, the “Storm” special-purpose unit of the internal troops, the combined unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, the sapper-technical unit of the internal troops and the Brest Oblast Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were involved.
The idea of the training was to prevent a sabotage and terrorist threat at a critical facility. The actions were practiced on the territory of the Brest hydroelectric power plant.
In the course of training and combat missions, the special forces practiced ground and aerial reconnaissance, the release of hostages, the neutralization of terrorists in buildings and transport facilities, the elimination of the negative consequences of the operation, including the detection and defusing of explosive devices, firefighting, evacuation and assistance to victims.
For the first time in such trainings, the trainings involved the use of reconnaissance and attack drones to defeat the enemy, actions on a river vessel and hydrostructures, the use of watercraft and the use of combat swimmers.
Major-General Nikolai Karpenkov, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs - Commander of the Internal Troops of the Republic of Belarus, summarizing the actions of the special forces, noted the coherence of all units. "Today all the tasks of the counter-terrorist operation have been successfully fulfilled. I am confident that in any situation the special forces will act clearly, coherently and effectively," he said.
In the territory of the Republic of Belarus, as part of the CSTO joint operational-strategic training "Combat Brotherhood-2023", under the leadership of Major-General Andrei Matiyevich, a joint training with the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Forces "Interaction-2023", a special training with intelligence forces and means "Search-2023", a special training with logistical forces and means "Echelon-2023", and a special training with the joint formation of the CSTO NBC protection and medical support "Barrier-2023" are being conducted.
They involve mobile formations and military units of permanent readiness of the armed forces of the CSTO member states equipped with modern and compatible armaments, special forces formations from among the special units of the internal affairs (police), security, State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus and special services, as well as the authorized bodies responsible for preventing and dealing with the consequences of emergency situations, and operational teams of the CSTO Joint Staff and the CSTO Secretariat In all, more than 2,500 servicemen and more than 500 units of weapons, military and special equipment were involved.
_____________________________________Joint Press Centre for the CSTO trainings
The Republic of Belarus, Brestsky training ground
