DONGUZ TRAINING (T-ASS): The chiefs of the G-eneral Staffs from the me-mber states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) have agreed to coordinate their work for preventing threats emanating from the territory of Afgh-anistan, Chief of the Russ-ian General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov said on Thursday.
The meeting of the military delegations of Russia, India, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzb-ekistan, Kazakhstan and B-elarus was held on the sidelines of the SCO’s Peace Mission 2021 anti-terror dr-ills running at the Donguz practice range in the Orenb-urg Region in the Urals.
“The participants in the meeting analyzed the situation in Afghanistan and its impact on creating pre-requisites for the growth of security threats in the SCO member states. They agreed to hold systematic consultations among our countries to prevent destabilizing processes from spilling over to the territories of the organization’s member states,” Gerasimov said after the meeting.
As the chief of the Russian General Staff said, the SCO member states consider the export of terrorist activity, the worsening humanitarian situation over an influx of Afghan refugees and growing drug trafficking as the main threats emanating from Afghanistan.
In an another meeting, Chief of the Russian Gen-eral Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from India and China, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.
The talks were held as part of the main stage of the Peace Mission 2021 anti-terror drills of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization running at the Donguz pra-ctice range in the Orenburg Region in the Urals, the press office specified.
“In the course of his meeting with Chief of the Joint Staff of China’s Cent-ral Military Commission Colonel-General Li Zuoch-eng, Gerasimov expressed his gratitude for China’s traditional high-level representation in the measures organized by Russia’s Defense Ministry in 2021,” the statement says.
Gerasimov and his Chinese counterpart highly valued bilateral military cooperation and reaffirmed their desire “to engage the accumulated potential maximally efficiently” for further strengthening it, the press office of the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russia’s military chief also praised bilateral military cooperation with India at a meeting with Chief of the Indian Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat, the press office informed.
The armed forces of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization need to be prepared to jointly fight terrorists’ new tactics, the chief of the Russian General Staff said on the sidelines of the Peace Mission 2021 anti-terror drills in the Urals.
“In particular, it is necessary to practice fighting unmanned aerial vehicles, providing IT security and preventing terrorist attacks with the use of chemical and biological weapons,” Gerasimov stressed.
The SCO’s Peace Mission 2021 anti-terror drills are running at the Donguz training ground in the Orenburg Region in the Urals and involve troops from Russia, India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbe-kistan and Belarus. Overall, the drills have brought together more than 3,400 troops and over 600 items of armament, military.
