Russia to send anti-aircraft missile, fighter jets to Belarus base: Minister

“We are starting to look into the plan to create a Russian air force base in Belarus with fighter jets,” Sergey Shoigu said after holding talks with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday.
 
The Russian minister said that a Russian air force HQ in Belarus would be established by 2014 and test flights by one wing of fighter jets would also begin in the same year.
 
Russia’s four battalions of S-300 surface-to-air missiles would be sent to Belarus in 2014, Shoigu also said.
 
    "We hope that in 2015 there will be a regiment of warplanes [in Belarus] which will serve to defend our borders," he added.
 
 
The two countries agreed to set up a joint air defense system four years ago in response to Washington’s plans to deploy an anti-missile shield in Europe.
 
There are two Russian military installations in Belarus at the moment, a radar station that is part of the missile strike warning system and a communications hub, which provides links to Russia’s nuclear submarines.