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Russia, Belarus to form joint military bloc

Xinhua, October 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russia and Belarus have decided to create a joint military bloc, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Wednesday.

"A plan of joint actions from 2016 to 2018 has been approved, aiming to form a military organization of the Union State and create a reliable mechanism for its armed defense," Shoigu said at a meeting of senior military officials of the two countries.

Shoigu also said that the experience gained during this year's "Union Shield 2015" joint military drills will be used in the preparation of future exercises "West 2017," which are expected to be held in the two countries in 2017.

"Union Shield 2015," conducted in Russia in September, focused on the coordination of efforts to thwart armed insurgencies and involved 8,000 Russian and 1,000 Belarussian troops.

The Union State of Russia and Belarus is a political and economic union formed in 1997 with the aim of providing greater political, economic and social integration of the two neighbors. Endi