07/09/2018
By Richard Weitz
One issue that will probably not be on the NATO summit agenda, but should be, is to develop a strategy for dealing with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
NATO has consistently rejected to do so, dismissing the organization as a façade for Moscow’s aspirations for regional hegemony.
It is true that Russia dominates the CSTO, which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan as full members.
For example, the CSTO helps to justify the Russian military presence in other former Soviet republics.
But the organization has become increasingly active in recent years and NATO can hardly have a comprehensive role for Eurasia without addressing its prominent role.
The CSTO has several types of collective military forces: large combined regional forces, standing rapid reaction forces, and smaller special purpose forces for sub-conventional missions.
Most importantly, in 2009, the CSTO created a Kollektivniye Sily Operativnogo Reagirovaniya (KSOR or Collective Rapid Reaction Force) to conduct low-intensity operations such as peacekeeping, counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, emergency response, and countering drug trafficking.
The KSOR includes special purpose forces as well as conventional troops.
Its more than 25,000 personnel are split into a large battle group of 22,000 and a 3,500-member Central Asian Regional Collective Rapid Deployment Force (KSBR TsAR), which maintains a higher state of combat readiness but is intended for use only in Central Asia.
The KSOR has engaged in more major exercises in recent years, especially since the Ukraine conflict began in 2014:
- The “Vzainmodeystviye” (translated in English as “Interaction” sometimes “Cooperation” or “Collaboration”) are annual large-scale rehearsals of the KSOR’s conventional capabilities.
- The “Rubezh” (“Frontier”) drills tests rapid deployment against hypothetical terrorist organizations in Central Asia.
- The “Nerushimoe bratstvo” (“Unbreakable Brotherhood) series rehearse various peacekeeping skills.
- The periodic “Kobalt” (also translated as “Cobalt”) exercise internal security forces including special police and emergency response.
- The similar “Grom” (“Thunder”) exercises involve members’ national drug and law enforcement bodies.
- The “Search” series drill the CSTO’s reconnaissance and interdiction capabilities.
- The “Combat Brotherhood” label is sometimes used to refer to multi-phased exercises that link several of these more specialized drills.
For example,the “Combat Brotherhood 2017” was based on a single integrating political-military concept and scenario. Under Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov, Commander of the Russian Southern MD, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan contributed both regular and specialized units for the CRRF drills, which totaled 12,000 troops, 1,500 major pieces of hardware, as well as some 90 aircraft and other combat equipment.
The first phase, which ran from October 3-7, “Search-2017,”drilled members’ reconnaissance forces. In the second, “Interaction-2017,” which lasted from October 9-13, Russian and Armenian regular units exercised at Armenia’s Bagramyan and the Alagyaz training grounds.
The third stage, the “Unbreakable Brotherhood 2017” peacekeeping drills, took place from October 16-20 at two ranges in Kazakhstan. The CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces rehearsed conducting negotiations, escorting humanitarian deliveries, operating checkpoints, psychological and information operations, and eliminating terrorists.
In the final phase of “Combat Brotherhood-2017,” which ran from November 10-20, more than 5,000 troops, 300 major ground platforms, and some 60 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft of the CRRF rehearsed counter-terrorist missions in mountainous areas of Tajikistan. ‘
The multiple forces, locations, and phases of the “Combat Brotherhood 2017” exercise simulated the various missions that might occur under unified command and control when defending the southern CSTO region from state and especially non-state actors.
Later this fall, Kyrgyzstan will host “Interaction-2018”. An estimated 3,000 personnel, 600 pieces of military hardware, and some 40 aircraft will participate. The drill will rehearse peacemaking, rapid response, interoperability, reconnaissance, and air force missions. It will reportedly feature a new operational format allowing for more synchronized exercise management across CSTO members.
In October, the CSTO peacekeeping exercise “Indestructible Brotherhood-2018” will occur in Russia.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu explained that these exercises are part of an integrated series of drills that the CSTO will conduct in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan “sequentially under a single plan.”
Here is a more comprehensive description of the more recent significant CSTO and CSTO-related Russian exercises, compiled from various Russian and other publicly available sources:
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