Belarus and Russia will establish a “united military organization”

Within the next two years Russia and Belarus are going to create Union State defense mechanism; plan of actions is ready.

"We have approved [at the collegium meeting] the plan of joint activities for 2016-2018 that is aimed at formation of a military organization of the Union State, the establishment of a reliable mechanism for its armed defense," Russian Defense Minister, General Sergey Shoigu told reporters after a joint collegium meeting of the two countries’ defense ministries.

According to the minister, the collegium also discussed implementation of the agreement on joint guarding of the external borders and combat duty within the framework of the Unified Regional Air Defense System in Belarus.

The Russian minister also noted that military security of Russia and Belarus depends on the developments in Ukraine, and it is important to implement the Minsk agreements, TASS reports.

"Military security of equally Russia and Belarus depends on how the situation evolves in this brotherly country. We see direct dialogue between Ukraine and representatives of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics as the only possible way of national reconciliation. It is important to ensure implementation of the Minsk agreements," Shoigu said at the meeting.

Shoigu also informed that the joint Russian-Belarusian exercise Zapad-2017 (West-2017) is to be held in two years. The drill will be aimed, in particular, at improving the efficiency of the unified regional air defense system.

He noted that during the Union Shield-2015 exercise military units demonstrated a good level of training and cohesion. "The exercise sparked the interest of our "neighbors" to study the focus of troops’ training and the substance of training assignments," he added.