RUSSIA, ARMENIA TO CREATE JOINT AIR DEFENSE NETWORK: OFFICIAL

Xinhua

Feb 13 2009
China

MOSCOW, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) — Russia and Armenia will build a united
air defense system similar to a recently announced Russian-Belarusian
air defense network, the head of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) said on Friday.

"The so-called Russian-Belarusian integrated air defense network
is just a part of the cooperation within the CSTO," CSTO Secretary
General Nikolai Bordyuzha told a news conference in Moscow.

"We are expecting Russia and Armenia to set up a similar joint (air
defense) network," he was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency
as saying.

The alliance will set up three regional air defense networks in
Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, Bordyuzha said.

"After that we will advance to a higher level of cooperation,
coordinating the activity of all regional networks and introducing
common rules of engagement and information exchange," he said.

The CSTO, a post-Soviet security bloc, comprises Russia, Belarus,
Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Russia said last year it was planning to expand military-technical
cooperation with other CSTO members and build a CSTO integrated air
defense network.

Moscow and Minsk inked an agreement on Feb. 3 to establish a common
air defense system.