MINSK. March 27 (Interfax) - Belarus and Russia are in talks about the definitive number of Russian fighter jets to be deployed in Belarus, the Belarusian ambassador in Moscow said.
"At present, four Air Force of the Russian Federation jets are deployed on Belarusian territory, in Baranovichi, on a rotational basis defending Belarusian-Russian air space. There are negotiations in progress on the definitive size of the alert fighter unit to be deployed on the territory of the republic," Igor Petrishenko told the newspaper Soyuz. Belarus-Russia.
He also said Belarusian air force and air defense units would be trained at Russian training sites Ashuluk and Telemba this year. Those training sites "will be the venues of the Combat Community 2015 exercises of the Joint Air Defense System of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which will include tactical exercises with fire practice," he said.
He mentioned that this year Belarus is due to be supplied with four Yakovlev Yak-130 trainer jets and four battery sets of S-300 surface-to-air missile systems.
"There is active […] cooperation between defense complex enterprises. For example, the Minsk Wheeled Tractor Plant is provided with Russian contracts enough to keep it going until 2018," he said.
"In addition to current military technological cooperation, the participation of Belarusian [firms] in state purchases for the defense needs of the Russian Federation is under consideration. So our military cooperation with Russia stays within the format of the Union State and is the determining national security factor," Petrishenko said.