Opening Ceremony Held for Vzaimodeistviye 2016 Exercise

An opening ceremony for the command post exercise Vzaimodeistviye 2016 involving military units of the CSTO Collective Rapid Reaction Force (CRRF) was held at the 714th central range of the Russian Airborne Troops on 16 August. The exercise is led by Commander of the Western Military District Col. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov.

The participants will be trained to deploy the CSTO CRRF units in response to armed border conflicts in the collective security region.

A two-day operational session with the CSTO CRRF Command was held before the exercise.

In accordance with the decision of the Western Military District Commander, an operational directive was handed to the CSTO CRRF Commander on 15 August.

The exercise will test the effectiveness of the algorithm developed to establish control and interaction between the United Strategic Command (Western Military District), CRRF command and control bodies, as well as between military units of the Russian Armed Forces and the CSTO CRRF units.

The exercise is held under the CSTO joint operational and combat training plan for 2016. It involves about 80 Belarusian troops.