ASTANA: Central Asian states on Tuesday held joint exercises with land, naval and air forces, for the first time without regional powers China and Russia. Kazakhstan is hosting four other former USSR states for the exercises, which a spokesperson for Kazakhstan’s military told media were “the first of their kind”.
The spokesperson confirmed that all the participants have arrived to take part in the drills. It added that drills are named Birlestik-2024, meaning alliance in Kazakh.
Taking place in the Caspian Sea, they will last until July 17 and involve about 4,000…