The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, said that Russia and Uzbekistan should cooperate on countering international terrorism, TASS reports.
“In the current military-political situation, taking into account the threats posed by international terrorism, our armed forces – Russia and Uzbekistan – must be ready to work together to counter these terrorist gangs,” he said at a meeting with his Uzbek counterpart Shukhrat Khalmukhamedov in Tashkent.
The head of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces stressed that the main threat to the Central Asian region today comes from the Afghan direction. In his opinion, the hasty withdrawal of the American contingent provoked a rapid degradation of the situation, an increase and a surge in terrorist activity.
Gerasimov also invited Khalmukhamedov to attend the active phase of the Peace Mission 2021 exercises of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries in September.
“In September, a joint anti-terrorist exercise Peace Mission 2021 is being held at the Donguzsky training ground in the Orenburg region. I invite you to take part in monitoring the active phase of the exercise and in the meeting of the chiefs of general staffs of the armed forces of the SCO countries, which we will hold at the training ground”, Gerasimov said.
The joint military anti-terrorist command and staff exercise “Peaceful Mission 2021” will be held on the territory of the Central Military District at the Donguz training ground in the Orenburg region. During the events, servicemen will work out the tasks of preparing and conducting an anti-terrorist operation by a coalition group of forces of the SCO member states. More than 4 thousand servicemen will take part in them.