At the inauguration, the commander of the troops of the Central Military District of Russia, Colonel General Alexander Lapin, reported that 5,500 troops from nine countries are participating in the exercises, as reported by the TASS news agency.

The Colonel General stated that the priority of the practices will be to carry out joint actions to defeat large insurgent groups and neutralize terrorist threats.

He stressed that as part of the training, the troops will apply new methods of joint military actions, taking into account the use of modern weapons and the tactics of terrorist formations.

In his speech, Lapin recalled that the end of the US military operation in Afghanistan set off alarms about a possible terrorist threat in the common Eurasian space.

Lapin warned that the Taliban’s seizure of power in Kabul, ‘as well as the strengthening of the positions of the Islamic State and other international terrorist organizations in that country, are worrisome and threaten for the neighboring countries of the SCO.’

The Peace Mission-2021 exercises, will run until September 24th and will also involve more than 1,200 units of vehicles and aircraft.

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