Belarus and Russia should form a joint air defence system to protect their western border from NATO, according to Gen Valery Kostenko, commander of Belarus' air defence forces.
"This would be a peaceful defence system. Why shouldn't we create such a system in peacetime, if NATO...the USA and Canada have similar ones? We have no military stand-off with NATO," Kostenko says.
A new system is needed because NATO's eastward expansion has increased its ability to conduct reconnaissance in Russian and Belarusian airspace, according to Kostenko.
Belarus and Russian air defence forces have been holding exercises, exchanging information and using each other's bases since 1996. Kostenko says joint air defence would mean unified command, military legislation and financing from one military budget.
Source: Flight International