Kazakhstan launches active phase of Interaction 2022 exercise

The active phase of command and staff exercise Interaction 2022 and special exercises Search 2022 and Echelon 2022 of the CSTO CRDF began in Kazakhstan.
According to the telegram channel of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Colonel General Anatoly Sidorov, Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, said at the exercise’s opening ceremony, “Joint exercises are the supreme form of joint training of formations of forces and assets of the CSTO collective security system...
The year 2022 is characterized by the aggravation of the situation in all regions of the CSTO collective security. In these conditions, the CSTO Troops (Collective Forces) should remain in constant readiness to carry out tasks for their intended purpose, including in conditions of modern proxy wars and armed conflicts with the enemy acting ‘under a foreign flag, by foreign hands’.”
Anatoly Sidorov noted, “This year the main activities of joint training take place in the Central Asian region of collective security. The situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which remains tense and is characterized by instability and potential danger, has a key influence on the development of the situation in the Central Asian region of collective security.”
For the first time the new formation of the CSTO Collective Forces, a joint NBC protection and medical support unit, will be involved in practical operations.
Anatoly Sidorov recalled that the CSTO Development Strategy gives priority to political and diplomatic measures of conflict settlement.
Exercise participants include military contingents of the CSTO Member States, task forces of the Joint Staff and CSTO Secretariat, formations of special forces from special units of internal affairs bodies (police), security bodies and special services, as well as authorized bodies in the sphere of prevention and elimination of consequences of emergencies.
The total number of participants in the exercises in Kazakhstan is over 6,500 people and over 850 units of military and special equipment, including aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. The core of the Russian contingent is made up of units of the Central Military District.