Russia’s post-Soviet security bloc allies back up proposal on army snap checks

Russia’s allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have supported the proposal of Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to conduct CSTO military exercises in the form of snap checks, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said.

‘Everybody supported our minister who suggested that all future exercises within the CSTO framework should pass in the form of surprise inspections," Antonov said commenting on a meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CSTO member states held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Thursday.
Antonov also said Russia’s military cooperation with the CIS and CSTO countries is not targeted against any other countries.

"We have not threatened anyone or targeted our military cooperation against some other country. We are unanimous in our striving to identify a proportionate military response to the challenges and threats emerging close to our countries’ borders," Antonov said about Wednesday’s meeting of the CIS defence ministers in Cholpon-Ata (Kyrgyzstan) and Thursday’s meeting of the CSTO defence ministers in Dushanbe.

Antonov said it was a consolidated position of all participants in both conferences. The multilateral meetings within the framework of these sessions were used actively for a series of bilateral consultations.

"Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu discussed issues of interest to our allies practically with all counterparts form the CIS and CSTO countries. New tasks were identified in terms of providing assistance to the armed forces of our partners and allies," Antonov said.

Shoigu thanked the defense ministers who had delegated their contingents to the V-Day parade in Moscow.

"It is our common duty to not just remember the heroic accomplishments of our fathers and grandfathers during World War II years, but also to prevent such a tragedy in the future. That will be possible only if we and all of our allies have strong armies," Antonov quoted Shoigu as saying.