Corrected - Russian Defense Ministry to deploy airbase in Belarus in 2015, first flight to arrive in 2013 - Shoigu
(To correct from "wing" to "flight" in news item issued April 23 at 14:22 p.m. Moscow time)
MINSK. April 23 (Interfax) - Russia plans to deploy an airbase in Belarus in 2015. The first flight of fighters will be stationed there in 2013, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on Tuesday.
"We started to consider the deployment of a Russian airbase with fighter jets and hope to station an air regiment there in 2015. We will open an air commandant's office and bring the first duty flight of fighters in 2013," the Russian defense minister said.
Shoigu said the joint board of the Russian and Belarusian defense ministries would meet in Minsk on Tuesday to discuss a broad range of bilateral cooperation issues.
"The main item, first and foremost, is that Russia will supply four S-300 squadrons by 2014 under your [the Belarusian president's] agreement with Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin to protect the airspace," Shoigu said.
"We intend to continue the consideration of issues essential for building up the defensive capacity of our Belarusian colleagues and brothers," Shoigu said.
"The defense ministries have long-standing solid relations," he said. "We have a joint program for the deployment of unified air defense, which will be reliable and substantial and protect the borders and space of the Union State."
"There is a large military-technical cooperation program, as well. Everything is being done open-heartedly, just like friends and neighbors do," Shoigu remarked.
The defense minister said that Russian and Belarusian servicemen had been actively preparing for the West 2013 exercises. "Hopefully, it will check our readiness for the joint response to modern challenges and show what else must be done to ensure security of our countries," Shoigu said.
