MINSK. June 2 (Interfax) - Another S-400 Triumf air defense system has arrived in Belarus from Russia, the Belarusian Defense Ministry's press service said.
"The delivery of another set of the S-400 air defense missile system to the Armed Forces of Belarus from the Russian Federation has been completed. In addition to this, scheduled rotation of military units and formations of the Russian component of the Regional Group of Forces is underway," the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
"Personnel, weapons and equipment from the all-arms and tank formations of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are arriving in the Republic of Belarus in a combined fashion," it said.
As was reported earlier on May 28, an S-400 Triumf air defense missile system was delivered to Belarus from Russia.
On December 19, 2022, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Moscow had provided Minsk with a long-range S-400 Triumf system and an Iskander tactical missile system.
According to official information, the S-400 system, produced by Russia's Almaz-Antey Concern, is designed to counteract airplanes of strategic and tactical aviation, ballistic missiles and defeat hypersonic targets and other air assault weapons.
The Russian military said earlier that it takes less than five minutes to raise an S-400 into firing position.
In March 2023, Putin revealed that he and Lukashenko had agreed on stationing tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Belarus received an Iskander missile system, which can carry tactical nuclear weapons, Putin said. "We will start training crews on April 3 and will finalize the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in the territory of Belarus on July 1. Everything the Belarusian president has asked for, every question raised by him in that connection is being addressed, and every agreement of ours will be fulfilled in the near future," Putin said.
On April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry said that it had finished training Belarusian military personnel to operate the Sukhoi Su-25 assault aircraft. In the course of their training, Belarusian service members mastered new methods for using modern airborne weapons, including special ammunition, it said.
On May 25, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu signed documents in Minsk to determine the procedures regulating the storage of Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons at a special storage depot in Belarus.
"Russia is not giving nuclear weapons to Belarus, as control over them and a decision on their use remain in the hands of the Russian side," Shoigu said in Minsk on May 25.