Armenia Notably Absent As Russian-Led CSTO Training Gets Under Way

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter flies past clouds of smoke during Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) exercises in Kyrgyzstan on October 11.

These images were taken during CSTO drills dubbed “Indestructible Brotherhood” and released on October 11, two days after the exercises began on October 9.
 

Kyrgyz and Kazakh armored vehicles seen with unidentified soldiers during the CSTO drills on October 11.

The exercises are being held in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul region and are due to run until October 13.
 

A Kyrgyz soldier is seen with an ammunition box during live-fire exercises. 

According to the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry, the purpose of the drills is to “enhance coordination between military units while fulfilling peacekeeping tasks” in Central Asia.  
 

Belarusian soldiers ride atop an armored personnel carrier during the training. 

The drills involve about 1,500 soldiers from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan as well as command staff from the CSTO alliance. Noticeably absent from the exercises is CSTO member Armenia. 

 

Russian soldiers fire 9K38 "needle" anti-aircraft missiles during the drills.

Yerevan has repeatedly criticized the CSTO after what Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian called a “depressing” lack of response from the alliance to incursions into Armenian territory by Azerbaijani forces.

Tajik soldiers during the CSTO exercises. 

The CSTO was established in October 2002 and is bound by a NATO-like agreement that an attack on one alliance member is counted as an attack on all.


 

Kazakh and Kyrgyz armored columns seen during the Unbreakable Brotherhood exercises. 

In September 2022, Armenia formally requested assistance from the CSTO amid fighting with Azerbaijan. The CSTO leadership responded with a "fact-finding" mission that arrived after the alliance leadership had already apparently decided against sending peacekeepers. 

Men posing as protesters are seen surrounded by riot police during an exercise. 

Much of the training photographed by the press pack on October 11 appears to have focused on crowd-control scenarios. 

Russian troops with a large quadcopter are seen with a bomblet during the CSTO exercises. 

In contrast to the lukewarm response to Armenia’s 2022 request for help, the CSTO deployed around 2,300 troops to Kazakhstan amid widespread anti-government protests in January 2022. Astana claimed the unrest, that was sparked by protests over fuel prices, was led by “foreign terrorists." 

Belarusian soldiers during the drills in Kyrgyzstan. 

Armenia remains a part of the CSTO, but in May Pashinian said at a press conference that "I am not ruling out that Armenia will take a decision to withdraw from the CSTO," if the bloc failed to meet its treaty obligations.