MOSCOW, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The joint drills of the peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member countries began Tuesday in Russia's Urals, the Russian Defense Ministry's Zvezda TV channel said.

It said 1,300 troops from Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as 300 units of military hardware and 20 aircraft will take part in the "Unbreakable Brotherhood 2018" drills, which will last till Saturday.

Russia will provide a peacekeeping battalion, military police, intelligence, logistics and service units, field mobile control posts and aircraft for the exercises.

The participants will conduct a simulated peacekeeping operation in an imaginary Central Asian country, including monitoring compliance with a cease-fire agreement.

The CSTO, created in 1992, is an intergovernmental military alliance grouping six Soviet republics.

Peacekeeping drills have been held annually since 2012 on the territories of the CSTO member states.