Uzbekistan to Hold CIS Anti-Terror Exercise for First Time in 2024

Uzbekistan will host a joint anti-terrorism exercise of countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS, for the first time this year. The decision comes at a time of heightened concern after gunmen killed more than 140 people at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow on March 22. The Islamic State group, which is said in some quarters to be seeking to recruit more people from Central Asia, claimed responsibility. The suspected gunmen were Tajik migrants in Russia. Last week’s decision for Uzbekistan to host the drill coincided with a meeting on Friday in Minsk, Belarus, of foreign ministers of the CIS, a group of regional countries that was formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia and the Central Asian nations are among the members. An advisory council of the anti-terrorism center of the CIS discussed countering the use of unmanned vehicles and artificial intelligence by extremists, as well as “prospects for the development and use of unmanned aircraft systems in the field of security,” the CIS stated. The advisory council also discussed ways to combat “the use of modern digital tools by international terrorist organizations to finance terrorist and extremist activities,” it said.