Russia to deliver more S-300 air defense systems to Belarus

MINSK, April 20 (RIA Novosti)

Russia will continue deliveries of S-300 air defense systems to Belarus, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Wednesday. Belarus has several battalions equipped with Russian-made S-300 air defense systems on combat duty as part of the Russian-Belarusian integrated air defense network. "We have completed the first stage of modernization of the Belarusian S-300 air defense systems and agreed to intensify work on further deliveries of these systems to Belarus," Serdyukov said after a meeting of Russian and Belarusian defense officials in Minsk. Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement in February 2009 on the joint protection of the Russia-Belarus Union State's airspace and the creation of an integrated regional air defense network. "We are strengthening this network," Serdyukov said. Modernized versions of S-300 have a maximum engagement range of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles).