Moscow, August 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Russian Armed Forces General Staff Chief Gen. Nikolai Makarov has said that this year Ukraine will for the first time participate in the Russian-Belarusian military exercises Union Shield-2011.
"With great pleasure I want to announce that for the first time in the post-Soviet time, a unit (an airmobile unit) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will take part in the joint maneuvers," Makarov told journalists on Friday.
He noted that Russia and Ukraine participate in the annual joint naval exercise Farvater Mira (Fairway of Peace).
"I think it’s time to go to a new level of cooperation," he added.
The Russian-Belarusian military drills, known as Union Shield-2011, will take place from Sept. 16 until Sept. 22, and will involve some 12,000 servicemen, among them 7,000 from Russia and 5,000 from Belarus, as well as up to 50 airplanes and helicopters and 200 units of military hardware, including 100 tanks, Makarov said.
The joint exercises will be conducted at the Gorokhovetsky training ground in Nizhny Novgorod region and the Ashuluk training ground in Astrakhan region.
The program of the maneuvers was prepared by the General Staffs of Belarus and Russia together with the Staff of the Western Military District, he said.
