The Russian airbase in Belarus will be located closer to Ukraine
Moscow – Kiev, October 17 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Shtamm) – A Russian airbase will appear in Belarus not in 2015, but in 2016. Moreover, it will not be located in Baranovichi, as previously planned, but closer to Ukraine – in Bobruisk, reports NG.
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Russian Air Force Commander Viktor Bondarev said that Su-27 fighters will be based in Bobruisk. The military airfield in Bobruisk is being prepared for reconstruction, for which “the technical specifications have already been prepared.”
The appearance of this airbase was planned for 2015. At first, Viktor Bondarev stated that the airbase would appear in Lida (Grodno region). However, without explaining the reasons, the decision was changed, and in March of this year, the Air Force Commander-in-Chief clarified that the Su-27SM3 regiment (24 units) would be deployed at the airfield in Baranovichi (Brest region) by the end of 2014. Now, as it turns out, the air base for Su-27SM3 fighters will be located not in Baranovichi, but in Bobruisk (Mogilev region) and a year later than the date announced by Sergei Shoigu.
According to Belarusian expert Pavel Minchenko, until 1993, the 200th Guards Brest Red Banner Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment of the 46th Air Army of the USSR Long-Range Aviation, equipped with operational-strategic Tu-22MZ aircraft, was based at the military airfield in Bobruisk. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the regiment was transferred to Russian territory, and the airfield was mothballed. Its working condition is now maintained by military personnel of the Belarusian 83rd Separate Order of the Red Star Engineering and Aerodrome Regiment. Russian specialists arrived to their aid six months ago. The military airfield in Bobruisk was already used in March 2014, when the readiness of the Unified Regional Air Defense System of Belarus and Russia was tested. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, “six Russian Su-27 fighters and three military transport aircraft with engineering and technical personnel were redeployed there.”
As it now turns out, the airfield in Bobruisk will finally be ready for operation in 2016. Geographically, it is located further from the borders of Poland and Lithuania than the airfield in Baranovichi, but a little closer to the borders of Ukraine. Sources in the Ministry of Defense deny any connection of such deployment with known events in this country. “Military threats from the western and northwestern directions are more likely for the airfield in Baranovichi than for the airbase in Bobruisk. In addition, the airfield in Bobruisk is better equipped. Any type of aircraft can land on it. Thus, this airfield can be used during a special period as a jump airfield for strategic bombers. And this will also play a deterrent role in the emerging confrontation with NATO. But this has nothing to do with Ukraine,” an Air Force staff officer told NG on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, some media outlets at one time linked the military activity of the Russian Federation in Belarus with the Ukrainian events. And the authorities in Kyiv assessed the March exercises of the Unified Regional Air Defense System of Belarus and Russia as preparation for aggression against Ukraine.
Thus, despite some cooling in Russian-Belarusian relations, Moscow and Minsk remain strategic allies in the military sphere, the publication notes.
Russian Air Force Base in Belarus to Be Located Closer to Ukraine