SU-27 fighter jet. Photo by ru.wikipedia.org.
Six Russian Su-27 fighter jets and three military transport planes have been deployed at Bobruisk airfield in Belarus Thursday to boost the airspace defenses of the two countries.
Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has invited Russian forces to fend off potential NATO threat, Russian RT news reports.
"In case of continuing build-up of military forces in countries bordering Belarus, the country will take adequate response measures," a Belarus Defense Ministry statement says.
The aircraft from the Western military district have been deployed to the airbase in line with a bilateral agreement on the joint protection of the Union State's airspace and will reinforce the four Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter jets already at the nearby Baranovichi airbase, Ria Novosti informs.
NATO has begun military exercises in Poland near the borders with Belarus and Ukraine amid the current political standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine's Crimea region.