The documents on the agreement between Russia and Belarus, which provides for deploying a Russian airbase in our country, are out for president Putin’s signature, ria.ru reports.
The agreement stipulates the procedure of using the air base together with the armed forces of Belarus. The base is expected to ‘consolidate long-term Russian military presence in the region’.
Read also: Russian govt to discuss deploying air base in Belarus to ‘consolidate long-term military presence’
On August 4, 2015 Alyaksandr Lukashenka told journalists that Russian air bases will never be deployed in Belarus.
“There are two absolutely peaceful military bases in our territory. A base in Baranavichy – perhaps, 75% of our people serve here. And there is a base in Gantsavichi that can be named a high-tech engineering station which controls launching missiles. Can they attack the Ukraine? No. We have also a small group of customs officers and Russian border officers, as there is no border between Russia and Belarus there. I gave the nod. and their observers will be able to check it – there are ten people,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russia is ready to set up airbases on the territory of all its allies in the framework the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), pro-Kremlin news agency Sputnik reports.
“We are ready to do it with all allied countries, be it CSTO members or CSTO plus union treaty as in the case with Belarus,” Medvedev said.
The CSTO has six members (Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Belarus) and two observer states (Afghanistan and Serbia).
Russia currently has airbases in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
It is to be recalled that in January, 2015 the Avetisyan family was murdered in the Armenian city of Gyumri by Valeriy Permyakov, a serviceman of the 102nd Russian Military Base located in the city.
Read more: Fear without hatred in Armenia: 6-month-old Gyumri spree survivor dies
