Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan may join Kazakh-Russian Air Defense Shield - Astana official
ASTANA. May 13 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan plan to become members of the Joint Air Defense Shield, to be built by Kazakhstan and Russia, Kazakh Deputy Defense Minister Okas Saparov has said.
"The Joint Air Defense System of the Russian Federation and Belarus is operating within the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] in our east European part today. The Joint System of Russia and Armenia functions in the Caucasus region," he said at an expanded session of the Kazakh Senate's committee for international relations, defense and security in Astana on Tuesday.
"Our states have already reached a tentative agreement that the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the Republic of Tajikistan will join our system," Saparov said.
On Tuesday, the Senate committee debated a bill ratifying the Kazakh-Russian agreement on the establishment of the two countries' Joint Regional Air Defense Shield.