----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 8:59 AM Subject: Belarus wants to merge air defences with Russia STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?=132823 Belarus Wants To Merge Air Defenses With Russia MINSK, Feb 9, 2000 -- (Reuters) A senior Belarussian military official said on Tuesday the ex-Soviet state and neighboring Russia should form a joint air defense system to protect their western frontier from NATO. "This would be a peaceful defense system," General Valery Kostenko, commander of Belarus's air defense forces, told a news conference. "Why shouldn't we create such a system in peaceful times, if NATO...the United States and Canada have similar ones? We have no military standoff with NATO." Kostenko said the new system was needed because NATO's eastward expansion had broadened its ability to conduct reconnaissance of the airspace of Russia and Belarus. Air defenses of Slav neighbors Russia and Belarus have been exchanging information, holding exercises and using each other's aerodromes since 1996. Kostenko said that a joint air defense system would mean one command, unified military legislation and financing from one military budget. Kostenko gave no further detail. Nor did he say whether Russia supported the idea of forming such a defense system. His words were in line with a statement by Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko last week that Russia and Belarus would form a military force of hundreds of thousands to defend their western flank from NATO. Russia and Belarus have pledged to form a "union state", complete with a joint cabinet and parliament which would link their economies and legal systems, but few experts venture to predict when the merger might finally take place. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________ Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com
