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>Russia Journal
>
> DEFENSE
>
>
>Russia, Belarus unite on air defense
>
>
> Col. Vladimir Mukhin is military correspondent for
>Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
>
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
>The author looks at Russia's and Belarus' progress in
>creating a military union.
>
>
>With NATO now active in some former Soviet republics
>and plans for further eastward expansion still in the
>air, Russia and Belarus have strengthened their own
>military alliance. The two countries still have a long
>way to go to achieve political and economic union, but
>military union is already a reality.
>
>When Moscow and Minsk signed their union treaty, they
>also agreed to establish a powerful joint force that
>Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said would
>"encompass the Moscow military district and the entire
>Belarussian army."
>
>For five years now, Russian and Belarussian air
>defense troops have been on military duty together.
>The two countries have a common arms procurement
>program for 2000 and are working on a common military
>doctrine and arms program.
>
>It was in this context that a working group together
>with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov
>visited Minsk on Feb. 10-11. Negotiations resulted in
>the signing of an intergovernmental agreement setting
>up a Russian-Belarussian international financial
>industrial group called Defense Systems.
>
>Klebanov said the group would "design, manufacture and
>sell joint air-defense technology ñ the product most
>sought after on the world arms market."
>
>What exactly the two countries are to produce was not
>specified, but citing government sources, ITAR-TASS
>said the group would include Belarussian companies
>like the Gomel radio factory and the Minsk truck
>factory. This suggests that using Belarussian-made
>chassis and electronic equipment, the group could
>manufacture mobile anti-missile systems such as the
>S-300 and S-400.
>
>High Commander of the Airforce Anatoly Kornukov, who
>also was in Minsk with Klebanov, said that it is
>precisely these systems which the joint
>Russian-Belarussian air defense force will be equipped
>with.
>
>Kornukov said that the issue of repairing Russian MiG
>aircraft at Baranovichi aircraft repair factory west
>of Minsk was also being examined from a practical
>point of view. Last spring, Russia modernized the
>Belarussian air defense forceís Buk air defense
>system. Minsk asked for the Russianís help with
>modernization after the NATO bombing campaign in
>Yugoslavia.
>
>Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Kastyshin said
>that after the modernization work carried out by the
>Ulyanovsk mechanical plant, the Buk system can now
>destroy not just strategic and tactical aircraft,
>helicopters and winged missiles, but also tactical
>ballistic and aviation missiles, high-precision
>weaponry and ground targets.
>
>Russia has an interest in military and technical
>cooperation with Belarus ñ a country that is beyond
>reproach in the way it keeps watch over the CISí
>western airspace. Belarussian air defense forces
>regularly participate in joint military exercises with
>Russia and use Russian firing ranges.
>
>This military integration was undoubtedly speeded up
>by events in Kosovo and Chechnya and by NATO
>statements about the Baltic States soon becoming
>members of the alliance. True, Russiaís and Belarusí
>combined forces still do not match those of NATO, and
>that is why the strategic missile forces are so
>crucial. Russia and its allies maintain military
>parity with NATO today only through nuclear missiles.
>
>So it is no coincidence that Lukashenko said Feb. 10
>that according to the new approved military doctrine,
>Russia could use its nuclear arms in the event of an
>attack on Belarus ñ its strategic partner and ally.
>
>Lt. Gen. Alexander Sinaisky, secretary of the CIS
>Council of Ministers, said it wasnít excluded that
>this provision could indeed become an official part of
>Russiaís and Belarusí joint military doctrine.
>
>
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