Russia Ratifies Agreement with Belarus on Joint Combat Training Centres

On December 12, Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, signed the law on ratification of the agreement with the Republic of Belarus on the establishment and operation of joint combat training centres for military personnel. The document has been published on the official legal-information portal.

It is assumed that such centres will be opened based on joint decisions of the defence ministries of the two CSTO Member States, which will determine the direction of their activities, composition, structure, head count, locations, time terms of formation, as well as the order of functioning.

As you may recall, the agreement was signed in Minsk on March 28, 2023. According to the document, during the performance of joint tasks in the combat training centre the military contingents will wear uniforms and insignia established in the national armed forces, unless otherwise agreed by the authorized bodies of the parties.

In addition, the agreement stipulates that the commander of the military unit hosting the centre will be responsible for organizing the daily activities of the centre in terms of combat training, duty, sentry and internal service, in coordination with the Ministry of Defence of the sending party.

The receiving party provides the military contingent with the necessary fixed assets free of charge.

Vladimir Putin also signed a law ratifying the protocol amending the Russian–Belarusian agreement on joint ensuring regional military security of December 19, 1997. The protocol was signed in Minsk on December 3, 2022 due to the loss of relevance of certain provisions of the agreement. These amendments clarify the implementation of bilateral-cooperation regulations as part of ensuring military security of the Union State and the procedure for joint planning, application of the regional force grouping of Belarus and Russia, and financing of joint operational, mobilization and combat training activities.