Russia to supply four S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Belarus soon

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said it at a joint session of the Defense Ministries of Belarus and Russia in Moscow.

“To increase the capabilities of the Belarusian air defense, Russia will supply Belarus with four S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems in the nearest future,” said Sergei Shoigu.

He also added, that the Belarusian and Russian armies will stage a joint exercise Union Shield in 2015. The official specified that the Union Shield exercise will take place in Russia.

He remarked that the session of the boards had summarized results of the Zapad 2013 [West 2013] exercise that took place in Belarus. According to the Russian Defense Minister, the experience accumulated during the exercise will be taken into account during the Union Shield 2015 exercise, too. The future exercise will be used to train the application of the Belarusian-Russian regional military force.

The session of the boards of the Belarusian Defense Ministry and the Russian Defense Ministry discussed plans for cooperation between the two ministries in the next two years. According to Sergei Shoigu, close attention will be paid to improving the legal base for the bilateral cooperation, the development of joint defense systems: air defense, reconnaissance, communications, and radio warfare.