CSTO special forces drills to be held in Kyrgyzstan

Tactical exercises of the special forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be held in Kyrgyzstan on August 2-5.

The special forces will perform "the tasks of searching for, blocking and neutralizing gangs, terrorist groups, as well as blocking drug smuggling channels and detecting caches, laboratories for the storage and production of narcotic substances and their destruction," according to the CSTO official website.

“They will work out the tasks to eliminate the consequences that arose during the anti-terrorist operation,” the statement reads.

On June 6, Chairman of the Russian State Duma (Parliament) Defence Committee Andrey Kartapolov said that the use of peacekeepers from the CSTO countries in the territories of Ukraine, which were under the control of Russian troops during the “special operation”, cannot be ruled out in the future. The last time the CSTO troops were seen in Kazakhstan was in January 2022 amidst protests triggered by rising gas prices.

The CSTO is a military bloc, mostly seen as Russia’s alternative to NATO. Its member states are Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Armenia.