Belarus and Russia to expand military cooperation

Minsk finds it necessary to “reach a new level” of cooperation with the Russian military-industrial complex.

The statement was made by Siarhei Hurulou, the head of the State Military and Industrial Committee, Interfax reports.

“Cooperation between companies of the military-industrial complex of Belarus and Russia can reach a new mutually beneficial level amid today's economic instability,” Hurulou wrote for the magazine Znak Kachestva.

He thinks the military-industrial complexes of the two countries need to join efforts on equal conditions. “It is needed to raise production and products of our military enterprises to a higher level. I mean joint efforts, developing and strengthening science-based industries and increasing our common research and technical potential,” Hurulou notes.

The committee head says integration processes have all conditions for development.

“It is important for the leadership of Belarus and Russia to create a favourable climate to give enterprises an opportunity to find the most suitable form of integration with the aim to achieve positive research, technical and industrial results,” he says.

According to Hurulou, research and technical programmes of the “union state”, including those in the defence and security sector, have particular importance in the development of integration processes between Belarus and Russia. “This form of interaction allows us to invest the union's funds into the development of new technologies. Innovations in the military research and development sector require high costs, so joining efforts in this direction will give us an opportunity to cut expenses and reduce risks to implement research programmes in reasonable terms,” the head of the State Military and Industrial Committee writes.

“We annually notice an increase in the defence potential of the union state, which indicates the positive process in the military and technical integration of the two states,” Hurulou stresses.