The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday the participation, this year, of the Russian army in the peacekeeping exercises of the post-Soviet Collective Security Treaty Organization (OTSC) in Armenia, in tension with neighboring Azerbaijan.
“The joint exercises of the OTSC peacekeeping contingents ‘Indestructible Brotherhood 2023’ will be held on the territory of Armenia,” the Russian Defense Ministry announced in a statement released today.
The announcement was made in the context of criticism of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabagh, which failed to unblock the Lachin corridor, closed by suspected Azerbaijani activists, and of the CSTO, accused of indifferently responding to requests for support. from Armenia.
The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, urged Moscow on Thursday to find a solution to reopen that Lachin corridor, blocked by Azerbaijan on December 12, and argued that Russia must insist before the United Nations on the need to “send a group multinational peacekeepers to Karabakh.
In addition to the CSTO peacekeeping exercises, the Russian Defense Ministry indicated that it will carry out eight other bilateral exercises “by peacekeepers and anti-terrorists.”
The Russian command indicated that these are the Russian-Indian exercises Indra 2023, the anti-terrorist exercises of the command posts of the member countries of the Peace Mission 2023 of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the joint exercises Russia-Laos and Friendship Russia-Pakistan. Maneuvers 2023.
The Russian army will also hold exercises with its Algerian counterparts under Border 2023, in addition to the Russian-Mongolian Selenga 2023 exercises and exercises with the Vietnamese army.
Source: Observadora
