Almost 450 Russian paratroopers airlifted to Tajikistan for CSTO exercise

Almost 450 paratroopers from Ivanovo airborne division 98 and more than 60 items of military equipment have been airlifted to Tajikistan for an exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s Collective Rapid Reaction Force, a source from the Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

He said "17 military-transport planes Il-76 and an An-124 Ruslan of the Russian Air Force airlifted to Dushanbe division’s airborne battalion of more than 440 people and more than 60 armored vehicles and wheeled combat vehicles".

Paratroopers are armed with sub-machine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles and hand-held grenade launcher, he said. "They will take part in an anti-terrorist exercise of the Collective Rapid Reaction Force in a Tajik region bordering on Afghanistan," the source added.

All in all, the exercise will involve more than 2,000 military and more than 150 units of hardware from Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.