KABUL – Russia and its Central Asian allies will conduct joint militarydrills in Tajikistan near the Afghan border in late October, TASS newsagency reported Wednesday, citing a Russian military statement.

The details of the upcoming Rubezh-2018 (Boundary-2018) drills are beingcoordinated in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, by representatives of theCollective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Russian Central MilitaryDistrict and delegations from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, itsaid.

The drills will be conducted in the Harbmaydon Mountain range 15 km fromthe Tajik-Afghan border. Tajikistan and Afghanistan share about 1,300 km ofborder. Moscow has repeatedly voiced its concern that terrorists couldenter Central Asian countries from Afghanistan.

The Rubezh drills are held every two years. The Rubezh-2016 exercises wereheld in Kyrgyzstan.

The CSTO, formed in 1992, consists of six members, namely, Armenia,Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, and two observers,Afghanistan and Serbia.