Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan on Sunday unilaterally cancelled joint military drills between the six nations making up the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization
The Kyrgyz defense ministry did not specify the reason for cancelling the “Indestructible Brotherhood-2022” command and staff exercises
According to earlier reports, the exercises were set to involve army personnel from CSTO members Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
Russia and other CSTO countries effectively turned down Yerevan’s request for military aid, issued hours after hostilities began, and limited their response to sending fact-finding missions to the border
Despite its apparent ambitions to provide a counterpart to NATO, the CSTO has at times struggled to define its exact purpose
Failure to engage in numerous security crises among its members over the years has prompted analysts to question its viability
Last spring, the bloc looked on impassively as two members, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, were engaged in a bloody border dispute