YEREVAN, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - Defense ministers from the Collective Security Treaty Organization's (CSTO) member states have agreed to hold joint Rubezh command-and-staff exercises every two years, Russia's defense minister said on Friday.
Anatoly Serdyukov said that the exercises would be held in turn in each of the organization's member states.
"I believe this will provide a real opportunity to increase the combat readiness of individual armed forces and strengthen the collective security of the organization," Serdyukov said.
Rubezh-2008 was held on the territory of Armenia. About 4,000 troops from Armenia, Russia and Tajikistan took part in the four-stage military exercises, which started on July 22 and ended on August 22.
The CSTO is a security grouping comprising the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
