CSTO Exercises Indestructible Brotherhood and Barrier-2026 to be Held in Belarus from October 11-16
The command and staff exercise with CSTO peacekeeping forces, "Indestructible Brotherhood - 2026," and a special exercise involving a joint formation of CSTO radiation, chemical, and biological defense (CBRN) and medical support, "Barrier-2026," will be held in Belarus from October 11-16. This was announced at a briefing by Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff Andrei Serdyukov, BelTA reports.
"In mid-October, a command and staff exercise with CSTO peacekeeping forces, 'Indestructible Brotherhood - 2026,' will be held at the Losvido training ground in Belarus. Combat and transport aviation units, engineering troops, unmanned aerial vehicle crews, a special-purpose medical unit, a unit from the Vityaz fire and rescue team of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as units from the internal troops and the OMON special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, will be additionally involved in the comprehensive peacekeeping exercises," Andrei Serdyukov said.
Simultaneously, a special exercise involving the CSTO Joint CBRN Protection and Medical Support Formation "Barrier-2026," will be held at the Starodorozhsky training ground. "During this exercise, we plan to practice tasks to eliminate biological threats in the Collective Peacekeeping Forces' area of responsibility, as well as the participation of the joint unit in collective response activities in the event of a large-scale and rapid spread of dangerous infectious diseases," the Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff noted.
The main exercise in 2026, in terms of objectives, scale, and participant composition, will be the command and staff exercises with the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CRRF), "Interaction." It will take place at the end of September at a training ground in Russia's Central Military District. The day before, special exercises involving reconnaissance forces and assets, "Poisk-2026," and logistics support, "Echelon-2026," will be held.
"When practicing the preparation and conduct of a joint operation, significant attention will be paid to organizing the command and control of the CRRF contingents, taking into account the constantly evolving forms and methods of warfare, as well as the experience of modern armed conflicts. It is planned to practice the entire range of measures for deploying a command and control system, drawing on the experience of the Russian Armed Forces," Andrei Serdyukov emphasized. He added that representatives of international organizations and non-CSTO member states have been invited to the exercises.
In the second ten days of September, the joint exercise with the Central Asian Collective Rapid Deployment Forces units "Rubezh-2026" will be held at the Koktal training ground in Kazakhstan. The exercise is closely linked to the strategic command and staff exercise "Batyl Toitarys – 2026"(Resolute Counterattack – 2026), which is the main operational and combat training event for the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan. Particular attention will be paid to performing combat training missions in mountainous and desert terrain, in cooperation with units of the Border Troops and the National Guard of Kazakhstan.