MOSCOW, 5 March (BelTA) – Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu discussed the joint air defense system of the two countries during negotiations in Moscow on 5 March, BelTA has learned.
In particular, Sergei Shoigu described work concerning the Belarusian-Russian joint air defense system as the key matter out of the ones being discussed.
Viktor Khrenin and Sergei Shoigu discussed the plan of joint military cooperation events for the year 2021. The Russian defense minister said: “We have many questions concerning the continuation of our cooperation that need to be discussed such as the events we will have to organize in 2021.” He clarified that the army exercise Zapad 2021 [West 2021] will be the largest joint training event. Apart from that, plans have been made concerning not only bilateral cooperation but cooperation within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Apart from that, Sergei Shoigu invited Belarusian colleagues to attend an international conference on security that will take place this year.
According to the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry, during the negotiations the sides agreed to set up three combat training centers in order to jointly train military personnel.
Two centers will be located in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Kaliningrad Oblast while another one will be placed in Belarus' Grodno Oblast.
