Russia, Kyrgyzstan set to conduct antiterrorism exercise

Russia, Kyrgyzstan set to conduct antiterrorism exercise

RIA Novosti

Russia

13:38 | 21/ 09/ 2006

BISHKEK, September 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russia and Kyrgyzstan will hold
a joint antiterrorism exercise in the Central Asian republic in early
October, the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry said Thursday.

Kyrgyz police said in August that radical Islamic groups banned in
many countries across the globe, including Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Party of
Liberation), have stepped up their activities in the country.

Russia and Kyrgyzstan are both members of the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet security grouping, which
also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan and the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security body in Central
Asia that includes China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

The ministry said the exercise will begin October 2 and end October
5 with the firing of live ammunition at the Osh training grounds,
in the south of the country.

The main aim of the exercise is to plan and practice the coordination
of combat units in a joint antiterrorism operation, and to improve the
combat skills of military personnel during operations in mountainous
areas, it said.

The defense ministers of the two countries, foreign military attaches
and media are scheduled to attend the final phase of the exercise.

Russia maintains the Kant airbase, located about 20 miles west of the
Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. The base was established in October 2003 to
enable Russian combat aircraft to provide close air support for the
ground units of CSTO member states.

So far, Russia has provided military equipment worth 15 million rubles
($554,006) to the Central Asian nation as part of their military
cooperation agreements.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS