MINSK. Nov 28 (Interfax-AVN) - An agreement to build a Belarussian-Russian integrated air defense system "will considerably simplify the procedure of using the on-duty forces of one country over the territory of the other," Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.
"We can scramble Russian fighters into the sky should Belarus' airspace be violated, and vice versa," Ivanov said in an interview with the Soyuznoye Gosudarstvo magazine.
"Such operations have been drilled on several occasions," he said.
Ivanov confirmed that the two countries have entered the final stage in preparations to sign the agreement. "The agreement will be signed in the near future I think," said Ivanov.