Belarus And Russia Will Conduct "Zapad 2017" Exercises In Two Years

According to the Russian Defence Minister, in the near future Moscow and Minsk will create a mechanism for the armed defense of the "union state".

Sergei Shoigu said that at the end of the joint board of the two states’ Defence Ministries. He noted that the board approved the plan of joint actions for 2016-2018 years, which is aimed at the formation of the military organization of the "union state", the establishment of a reliable mechanism for its armed defence, TASS writes.

In addition, the minister said that the implementation of the agreement on the joint protection of the external borders and combat duty in the framework of the Single regional air defense system on the territory of Belarus were discussed at the boards.

Sergei Shoigu stated that during the joint military exercise "Union Shield-2015" a wide range of tasks in planning, management and use of troops had been successfully worked out. The experience acquired would be taken into consideration while preparing a joint strategic exercise "Zapad-2017", RIA "Novosti" reports.

Shoigu singled out and highlighted the issue of improving the unified system of radioelectronic warfare. "The necessary regulatory framework for this has been already formed, and its performance will ensure a high efficiency of the joint employment of forces and means of electronic warfare of the armed forces of our countries", -- the head of the Defence Ministry said.