A unit of the Russian Armed Forces will take part in joint military drills with Ukraine and Belarus in September 2012, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Wednesday.
“A Russian motorized infantry company will take part in the Slavic Commonwealth – 2012 drills in Ukraine,” Serdyukov said after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Salamatin in Moscow.
The Slavic Commonwealth – 2012 tactical drills will also involve brigade-size units from Ukraine and Belarus.
Serdyukov said Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy will hold Fairway of Peace 2012 exercises in May to practice joint peacekeeping missions at sea.
The Black Sea Fleet is stationed on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula under a lease agreement with Ukraine. On April 21, 2010, Moscow and Kiev signed a deal extending the lease on the fleet's base in Sevastopol for 25 years after the current lease expires in 2017.
