CSTO to Include Drone Protection on Agenda for Autumn Exercises

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. The issue of protecting facilities from drones has been included on the agenda of upcoming exercises by Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states, which will be held this autumn, first in Kazakhstan and then in Russia and Belarus, CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov said in an interview with TASS.

"The issue of protecting facilities from drones has been raised. This September, the Rubezh-2026 exercise will be held in Kazakhstan, followed by the Vzaimodeistvie-2026 exercise in Russia in late September and early October, and then the Nerushimoye Bratstvo (Indestructible Brotherhood - TASS) exercise in Belarus in October," the CSTO secretary general recalled. "At the request of the defense agencies of our member states, this issue has been included [on the agenda]," he added.

According to him, possible ways of sharing experience in the use of drones, countering them, and protecting against them are currently being worked out, and efforts in this area are ongoing.

"I think the defense industries of Russia, Belarus, and other countries are also working on these issues," Masadykov continued. "Of course, everyone is trying to catch up because warfare has changed, and the ways in which wars are fought have changed. I think this is a very appropriate issue and one of the most pressing ones today as far as the CSTO’s military component is concerned," he noted.