Opening ceremony of SCO manoeuvres to be held in Kazakhstan.

13/9 Tass 68

ALMA-ATA, September 13 (Itar-Tass) - The opening ceremony of the joint
antiterrorist manoeuvres of the armed forces of the member countries of
the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) - "Peace Mission 2010" will be
held on Monday at the Matybulak range of the Kazakhstani ground forces in
the Dzhambul region of the republic.
About 5,000 military from Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and
Tajikistan, as well as units of the Emergencies Ministry and Interior
Ministry of Kazakhstan will demonstrate their readiness to settle possible
crisis situations.
The exercises will involve over 300 military equipment units and over
50 airplanes and helicopters.
More than 1,000 military servicemen of the 21st separate motorized
rifle brigade from the Orenburg region, about 130 units of armour
equipment, more than 100 motor vehicles will take part in the manoeuvres
from the Russian side. It will also use 10 airplanes and helicopters to
support the ground forces from the air - the Su-24 frontline bombers.
Su-25 attack aircraft and Mi-8 transport helicopters.
Units of armed forces of the SCO states will be improving their skills
during 17 days. The active phase of the manoeuvres is planned for
September 24 when the defence ministers of SCO member states, as well as
Azerbaijani and Ukrainian defence ministers, will come to watch the joint
antiterrorist operation exercise.
The SCO is primarily centred on its member nations' Central Asian
security-related concerns, often describing the main threats it confronts
as being terrorism, separatism and extremism. However evidence is growing
that its activities in the area of social development of its member states
is increasing fast.
At the June 16-17, 2004 SCO summit, held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the
Regional Antiterrorism Structure (RATS) was established. On 21 April 2006,
the SCO announced plans to fight cross-border drug crimes under the
counter-terrorism rubric.
In October 2007, the SCO signed an agreement with the Collective
Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, to
broaden cooperation on issues such as security, crime, and drug
trafficking. Joint action plans between the two organisations are planned
to be signed by early 2008 in Beijing.
Over the past few years, the organisation's activities have expanded
to include increased military cooperation, intelligence sharing, and
counterterrorism.
There have been a number of SCO joint military exercises. The first of
these was held in 2003, with the first phase taking place in Kazakhstan
and the second in China. Since then China and Russia have teamed up for
large-scale war games in 2005 (Peace Mission 2005), 2007 and 2009, under
the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. At the joint
military exercises in 2007 (known as Peace Mission 2007) which took place
in Chelyabinsk, Russia, near the Ural Mountains and close to Central Asia,
as was agreed upon on April 2006 at a meeting of SCO Defence Ministers,
more than 4,000 Chinese soldiers participated. Air forces and
precision-guided weapons were also likely to be used. Russian Defence
Minister Sergei Ivanov said that the exercises would be transparent and
open to media and the public. Following the war games successful
completion, Russian officials began speaking of India joining such
exercises in the future and the SCO taking on a military role. The SCO has
served as a platform for larger military announcements by members. During
the 2007 war games in Russia, with leaders of SCO member states in
attendance including Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russia's Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin used the occasion to take advantage of a "captive"
audience: Russian strategic bombers, he said, would resume regular
long-range patrols for the first time since the Cold War. "Starting today,
such tours of duty will be conducted regularly and on the strategic
scale," Putin said. "Our pilots have been grounded for too long. They are
happy to start a new life."
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is an intergovernmental
mutual-security organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the
leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and
Uzbekistan. Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of
the Shanghai Five, founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in
2001, the members renamed the organisation.
-0-ezh/ast


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