CSTO military exercise Nerushimoye Bratstvo 2013 due in Chelyabinsk region of Russia

         The CSTO peacekeeping exercise Nerushimoye Bratstvo 2013 [Unbreakable Brotherhood 2013] will be held in Russia’s Chelyabinsk Oblast from 7 to 11 October. Taking part in the exercise will be peacekeepers from Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, all in all about 2,500 people.
         The exercise pursues several objectives: to enhance mutual understanding and promote cooperation between the CSTO member states; to give commanders and officers of all levels practical knowledge of how to prepare peacekeeping operations and manage military formations of the CSTO peacekeeping forces; to improve coordination between military and peacekeeping bodies during ground operations; to study the administrative and functional structure of management bodies of the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces with the aim of tailoring it to peacekeeping missions.