MINSK, October 29 (RIA Novosti) — Russia and Belarus will expand their program of military drills in 2015 because of "new threats" to the Union State, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday.
The Union State, a supranational entity of Russia and Belarus, was established in 2000 on the basis of agreements the two countries signed in 1996 and 1997.
"We have expanded our program for drills in 2015. The expansion is in light of the changing situation on our borders and in the world as a whole," Shoigu said during a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart in Minsk.
Shoigu said the Russian and Belarusian military "would like to design a number of practical actions and events in case new threats against the Union State appear."
In particular, according to Belarusian Defense Minister Yuri Zhadobin, the major joint exercise in 2015, Shield of the Union, will be held in an expanded format following Shoigu's proposal.
Earlier in the day, Shoigu also said Russia will deliver four S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Belarus by the end of 2014.
Since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, Russia has been particularly concerned by NATO's increased military presence close to its border, specifically in Poland and the former Soviet Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. According to the alliance, the measures are aimed at ensuring the security of its allies. Moscow, however, sees NATO expansion as a "provocation" that undermines the entire European security system.
