CSTO Peacekeeping Forces Indestructible Brotherhood – 2026 Command-and-Staff Exercise Being Conducted in Belarus

A command-and-staff exercise involving the CSTO Peacekeeping Forces, Indestructible Brotherhood – 2026, is being conducted in Belarus. The commander of the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces (CPF) has received a mandate authorising the conduct of the peacekeeping operation.

During the exercise, Colonel Alexey Yelfimov, Commander of the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces, organised the work of the officials of the Joint Command. Having assessed the situation, they formulated and approved the concept for the peacekeeping operation.

The CSTO peacekeeping units will carry out their assigned tasks in three stages:

At the first stage, the Collective Peacekeeping Forces are to take up positions in their area of responsibility, separate the opposing parties and establish a safe environment in the crisis area.

At the second stage, they will be required to monitor the area and the activities of the local population, protect and defend critical infrastructure facilities, establish comprehensive protection zones, and ensure the safe transit of all types of transport and the functioning of communications.

At the third stage, participants will practise the handover of critical infrastructure facilities and the area of responsibility to the local authorities.

Units forming part of the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces have already begun tactical training at the training range.

Colonel Alexey Yelfimov, Commander of the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces:

“During the exercise, the concept for the employment of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces was approved. It sets out all the peacekeeping tasks of the operation. We are now issuing preliminary orders to familiarise the troops with the forthcoming actions. The units have already begun their work.

The main task on which our efforts will be focused is separating the parties and bringing them towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

As for the work of the headquarters, we have implemented full automation of the decision-making process. This enables information from the commander and headquarters to be transmitted automatically to all command posts. Once a task has been assigned, the necessary information is sent to computers, where it is used to support decision-making. This significantly reduces the time required to collect information and communicate tasks to those responsible for carrying them out. During the exercise, we will demonstrate the capabilities of our automated command and control system to other countries.”