Putin asked Russian Duma to approve amendment to agreement on Russia-Belarus air defense system
On August 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted to the State Duma for ratification the protocol on changes and amendments to the Agreement between Russia and Belarus on the joint protection of the external border of the Union State in the airspace and the creation of joint regional air defense system of the two countries.
According to the document, creation of a single regional air defense system will increase the protection of the external border of the Union State, will contribute to the strengthening of security, and will not require additional expenditures from the Russian budget.
The explanatory note clarifies some concepts, as well as the use of weapons and military equipment by air defense services during joint combat tasks.
It should be emphasized that the agreement was signed by the parties already in 2009, Belarus ratified it in 2012. In 2013, the joint regional air defense system was headed by the then commander of the Belarusian Air Defense, Major-General Aleh Dzvihaliou. The protocol on changes and amendments to the agreement was signed on November 2 last year in Minsk, and Lukashenka approved it in March.
After on August 10 it became known that Putin had asked the Duma to ratify the protocol, the leading Ukrainian portal “Ukrainian Truth” published the news under the following headline: “Mr. Putin asked the Duma to allow the use of air defense on the border of Russia and Belarus.”
Recently, Deputy Head of Public Relations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuzef Venskovich said that Ukraine “is monitoring the situation in relation to Putin’s initiative on the use of air-defense systems on the border between Belarus, Ukraine, and the EU.”
In an interview to belsat.eu military expert Alyaksandr Alesin commented on the situation.
“Obviously, here we see the informational misunderstanding. Talking about some kind of threat to Ukraine coming from the ratification of the protocol is premature. In fact, since 2012, the joint regional air defense system has been in a latent form. There are no special command units in Belarus, no real bodies to manage them, except the commander,” explains Alesin.
“Initially, the agreement provided that the system would get activated in case there are attack groups of enemy troops and signs of mobilization at the border of the Union State. Before the amendments, this situation in the document was called the “threat period”, it is a real scientific term. But now they are going to replace it with the “period of direct threat of aggression”.
This wording is very controversial, especially at a time of hybrid wars. For example, a president may see indirect signs of aggression, both external and internal, coming form the so-called “fifth column” and activate the system. Only he decides whether there is a threat. Therefore, it is a subjective concept,” said Alesin.
In addition to air-defense system, military cooperation between Belarus and Russia is carried out in the whole range of areas, including technical, scientific and legal.
Katsyaryna Andreyeva, belsat.eu
