Russian general: CSTO Collective Rapid Response Forces try to be every bit as good as NATO by combat practice

• Monday, September 17, 09:50

The CSTO Collective Rapid Response Forces try to be every bit as good as NATO in terms of combat practice, Maj.-Gen. Anatoly Yakovlev, Head of the CSTO United Headquarters, said at today's briefing at the Marshall Baghramyan shooting range of the Armenian Defense Ministry.    

He said that the North Atlantic Alliance has its own specificity of training, which is different from the mechanisms worked out in the Collective Rapid Response Forces. "Each state has its own system of combat practice. And now we are working to elaborate a single system of training of the Collective Rapid Response Forces. Naturally, it will be no worse than the system of NATO", Yakovlev said.    

Yakovlev stressed that the themes and date of today's CSTO exercises were determined in December 2011 and they have nothing to do with the current military and political situation in the region. 

To note, the exercises of the CSTO Collective Rapid Response Forces "Interaction 2012", which started in Armenia on September 15, are being held at the Marshall Baghramyan shooting range. Maj.-Gen. Kamo Kochunts commands the united forces of the CSTO Collective Rapid Response Forces. Nearly 2,000 people from Armenia and other CSTO member states participate in the exercises.