DUSHANBE, June 24 (RIA Novosti) - Defense ministers from CIS member countries approved holding joint air defense exercises at the Ashuluk shooting range in late August in Astrakhan in Russia's south, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said after the minister's council met Friday.
Ivanov said 70% of the Council's budget was spent on improving the unified air defense system.
"This system does not only defend CIS air space, but it is also useful in combating terrorism," he said.
Defense ministers from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine attended the session.
They also discussed the results of the Air Defense Coordinating Committee's work and analyzed the security of military flights in the CIS in 2004.
