BELARUS AND RUSSIA HOLD JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE

AP Worldstream
Jun 19, 2006

Belarusian and Russian military forces have launched a weeklong
maneuvers _ the biggest-ever joint military excercise between the
countries, officials said Monday.

About 7,000 Belarusian and some 1,800 Russian troops are taking part in
the maneuvers that started over the weekend, said Belarusian Defense
Ministry spokesman Vyacheslav Remenchik.

"That is the biggest Russian military contingent to take part in
maneuvers on the Belarusian territory to that date," he told The
Associated Press.

As part of the maneuvers, 29 Belarusian and 19 Russian aircraft were
performing training missions Monday, Remenchik said.

The scenario of the exercise envisages joint response to an outside
military threat. As part of the training, Russian MiG-29 fighter jets
on Sunday practiced intercepting enemy planes over Western Belarus,
Remenchik said.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe’s
last dictator" by the United States and other Western nations for his
relentless crackdown on dissent, has repeatedly accused the West of
harboring aggressive intentions.

Russia and Belarus signed a union agreement in 1996 providing for
close political, economic and military ties, and their armed forces
have held frequent joint drills.

Russia has watched warily as former Soviet bloc countries bordering
Belarus _ Poland, Latvia and Lithuania _ have joined NATO. Russian
military officials have announced plans to set up a permanent Russian
air base in Belarus and also deploy air defense missiles there.

On Saturday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and leaders of Armenia
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will visit Belarus to watch
the exercise. Along with Russia and Belarus, the ex-Soviet nations
are members of the Organization of the Collective Security Treaty _
a pact envisaging defense and security cooperation.