A Russian-led rapid reaction force, portrayed as the Kremlin’s answer to Nato, held its first war games on Friday in Kazakhstan, stoking concerns among some central Asian states at the nature of its military ambitions in the region.

Seven thousand troops participated in the war games, the first by the force formed this year by the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a loose security grouping between Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.