Drones will patrol the borders between the Collective Security Treaty Organization member states and Afghanistan said Sergey Shoigu at his meeting with Kyrgyzstan's Chief of General Staff. He stressed that it's a necessary measure to stop Afghan infiltrators.
Yulia Shustraya with the details from Bishkek.
Border control and the fight against international terrorism: these two related topics became the agenda of all meetings of the Russian Defense Ministry delegations, led by Sergey Shoigu, during its two-day visit in Kyrgyzstan. The second day began with a meeting with the Chief of the Kyrgyz General Staff.
Sergey Shoigu, Defense Minister of Russia: "We must realize that we need to combine our efforts and employ advanced technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicles to locate terrorist groups attempting to cross the border".
Drones are particularly needed at the northern and eastern borders of Afghanistan where terrorists appear often now. They moved to these territories from Syria and Iraq. A terrorist group tracking system for hard-to-reach areas has been successfully tested in Syria. Now, the experience of Russian troops is adopted by their Kyrgyz counterparts.
Rayimberdi Duishenbiev, Chief of General Staff of Kyrgyzstan: "We've had major progress in personnel training. The Central Military District of the Russian Defense Ministry has been providing practical and methodical assistance. All instructors have combat experience from the Arab Republic of Syria. As you know, according to the plan adopted in 2016 on using combined forces we've been conducting comprehensive experience exchange in this field".
At the same meeting, the Kyrgyz representative proposed to form a group to create a regional anti-aircraft system and sign the corresponding papers in November 2019. This will be another measure that would reinforce the borders of the CSTO-states. Russia's already made a step in that direction. Sergey Shoigu recently announced that our airfields in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were getting reinforced.
Within the framework of their Bishkek visit, the defense ministers of the CSTO met the President of Kyrgyzstan and continued discussing their joint efforts. One of the examples of successful cooperation was the international anti-terrorist exercise "Peaceful Mission."
However, right now, the major focus is the Afghan-Tajik border. It's being reinforced in a cooperative manner.
Valery Semerikov, Acting Secretary of CSTO: "Tajikistan did a lot to reinforce its border with Afghanistan. But it's clear that it's hard to control such a vast area alone".
At the plenary session, the Defense Ministers of the CSTO-members discussed their plans for 2019 and early 2020. There were 15 items on the agenda, including the logistics issues of collective forces.
Yulia Shustraya and Alexey Kalach Vesti, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
