MOSCOW – Russia will supply the modernized S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Belarus soon, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov said after a meeting of the two countries’ defense ministry boards on Wednesday.
He said work in this direction continued, and only formal details remained. Mr. Ivanov expressed confidence that the decision about the transfer of the S-300 systems would be approved by the government soon, and the contract with the state-owned arms export agency Rosoboronexport would be signed.
“This step is important not just for Belarus but also for Russia, for the effective defense of common air space,” Mr. Ivanov said. He stressed that the issue of renting or selling the missile systems was not of principal importance, so far. “What is important is that these systems will be in service use, and they will guard the airspace of the Union State,” Mr. Ivanov stressed.
For his part, Belarusian Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev said that the adoption of a joint military doctrine had helped raise the relations between the two ministries to a new qualitative level. He stressed that the Russian and Belarusian defense ministries had made significant progress in such areas of cooperation as the harmonization and unification of legislation in the sphere of defense, military service and the social protection of the military.
A S-300 surface-to-air missile system is regarded as the calling card of Russian air defense. It is designed to protect military units, strategic military targets and civilian targets from ballistic and cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft and air strikes. It can hit targets at a distance of 7-100km, at a height of 25-30km, and flying at a speed of 300 meters per second.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=40967
Sign In
October 23, 2003 at 5:05 pm