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YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS: The Interaction-2013 military exercises of the Collective rapid deployment force of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) were officially kicked off at the Osipovichsky firing range in Belarus on Thursday, CSTO press secretary Vladimir Zainetdinov told Itar-Tass, as reported by Armenpress.
According to Zainetdinov, these drills are being held concurrently with other military exercises, the Russian-Belarusian strategic drills Zapad-2013. The Interaction-2013 exercises will drill skills of the collective rapid deployment force in case of terrorist groups’ penetration into the territory of a member state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
The drills involve over 600 servicemen, about 60 units of combat hardware and up to 15 planes and helicopters from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The Russian armed grouping makes a third of all participants in the drills. The paratroopers will be represented by two operative groups, namely the command staff and a tactical battalion of the 31st guards separate air assault (peacekeeping) brigade, which includes an air assault company, a self-propelled artillery squadron and a reconnaissance platoon. The Russian Air Force is represented by six airplanes IL-76MD from Tver and six helicopters of army aviation.
Earlier Armenpress reported that Armenia will participate in the joint military exercises Cooperation 2013 of the Rapid Reaction Forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization with 50 officers and servicemen. The participation in such exercises raises the efficiency of any army. The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan noted that Armenia is always ready to take part in the exercises and considers it to be quite important. “We are participating in different military trainings every year and it will be continuative”, - clarified Artsrun Hovhannisyan.
In 2012 the Cooperation 2012 was held in Armenia. The event was attended by the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, the Minister of Defense of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan, the head of the operative and combat training department of the CSTO united staff Vladimir Ustinov, other senior servicemen and the representatives of CSTO secretariat. The Collective Security Treaty Organization was signed in 1992, May 15. Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are among the CSTO member states.