Opinions & Interviews

OSIPOVICHI, 25 September (BelTA) – The experience generated by the Interaction 2013 exercise of the Collective Rapid Response Forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization will be useful for all the CSTO member states. The opinion was voiced by Belarusian Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General Yuri Zhadobin after the exercise, BelTA has learned.

“For the exercise Interaction 2013 we aimed to hit several targets, including a research one. Once summarized, the generated experience will be useful not only for the Belarusian army but also for the armies of our allies,” he said. The Defense Minister remarked that combat training schemes will be reviewed using results of the exercise.

Yuri Zhadobin praised the training of all the military units, including officers of administration bodies, unit commanders, and enlisted soldiers.

The active phase of the Interaction 2013 exercise of the Collective Rapid Response Forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization ended at the firing range Osipovichsky of the Belarusian army on 25 September.

The exercise gathered army units of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. The exercise was supervised by First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, Major-General Igor Lavrinenko. During the exercise the Collective Rapid Response Forces were led by Chief of the Special Operations Forces of the Belarusian army, Major-General Oleg Belokonev.

It was the fifth exercise since the Collective Rapid Response Forces were founded and the first one held in Belarus. The CSTO military exercise Interaction 2013 was held alongside the Belarusian-Russian strategic exercise Zapad 2013 [West 2013].