The Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will complete their mission in Kazakhstan after the situation in the country fully stabilizes, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a teleconference meeting on Tuesday, TASS reports.
"The Collective Peacekeeping Forces will continue their mission until the situation in Kazakhstan fully stabilizes, naturally, based on the Kazakh leadership’s decision," he pointed out.
According to Shoigu, "the CSTO’s peacekeeping forces are currently on a mission to protect crucial military, government, and social facilities in Kazakhstan."
Shoigu noted that the bloc’s Collective Peacekeeping Forces had been deployed to Kazakhstan in accordance with the January 9 decision of the CSTO Collective Security Council. "The Russian Aerospace Forces’ aircraft delivered troops and equipment on short notice in just three days. It became possible through the well-coordinated and prompt actions by the armed forces of the CSTO member states that are the result of joint drills and the experience obtained when deploying Russian troops to Syria and peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh," the Russian defense chief emphasized.
