Andrei Serdyukov: CSTO Exercises are aimed at Protecting the Sovereignty of the Organization's Member States

On August 29, Andrei Serdyukov, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, held a briefing on the upcoming CSTO exercises.

“The geopolitical situation will remain strategically unstable, with acute regional conflicts. The West's actions will be comprehensive and provocative, aimed at preserving its dominance and creating new hotbeds of escalation in the world to reach this goal,” the Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff emphasized.

He also stated that the exercises planned for September and October are aimed at protecting the sovereignty of the Organization's Member States.

“I would like to emphasize that the planned activities with the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) are aimed at protecting independence on a collective basis, preserving territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Member States; they fully comply with international standards and are not directed against other countries,” Andrei Serdyukov said.

The Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff said that the exercises in Kyrgyzstan will be monitored by CSTO parliamentarians – members of the Coordination Meeting of Chairpersons of Committees (Commissions) on Defence and Security of the Parliaments of the CSTO Member States, as well as observers from Algeria, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

A total of more than 5,000 people of the personnel and over 900 units of military and special equipment will take part in the exercises.