Tajik, Russian top brass mull upcoming collective security drills

ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
8 Feb 05

Dushanbe, 8 February: Tajik Defence Minister Sherali Khayrulloyev
and Commander of Volga-Urals Military District Vladimir Boldyrev
discussed today preparations for command and staff exercises within
the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
[members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Russia].

The Rubezh-2005 exercises of the CSTO’s rapid-deployment forces will
be held on Tajik territory in April 2005. Divisions of armed forces
of Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan will participate in
the exercises, a source at the Tajik Defence Ministry’s press service
has told an ITAR-TASS correspondent.

The main aim of the upcoming exercises is “to drill interaction
and to enhance the readiness of the CSTO member states to counter
international terrorism and other threats,” the source stressed.

The two also discussed issues relating to the fitting out of the
Russian military base in Tajikistan, which is being set up on the
basis of the [Russian] 201st Motor-Rifle Division.