CSTO Joint Staff Announces Locations of Military Exercises in 2026

At an official briefing, Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov, Chief of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), shared details of this year's CSTO Collective Forces maneuvers.

Joint operational training in 2026 is to take place on the territories of four Member States of the Organization: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

The briefing focused particularly on the autumn phase of the maneuvers. Andrei Serdyukov shared that the Vzaimodeistvie and Echelon exercises will take place in Russia at the end of September, and the Rubezh exercise will take place in Kazakhstan from 13 to 18 September. In Belarus, from 11 to 16 October, two important exercises will be held simultaneously: Nerushimoye bratstvo – 2026 (a command-and-staff exercise with the CSTO Peacekeeping Forces) and Barrier-2026, a specialized exercise involving nuclear, chemical and biological (NBC) defence units, as well as medical support units.

The Chief of the Joint Staff also outlined the scale of the forces to be deployed. In total, around 5,000 military personnel and over 1,000 pieces of weaponry, military and specialized equipment will be involved in the CSTO maneuvers in 2026.

These regular exercises are aimed at improving the level of field training and the coordination between the command structures and units of the Collective Forces, as well as demonstrating the CSTO Member States' readiness to respond jointly to modern challenges and threats.