Air defense

Russia’s Big Plans for Air Defense in Eurasia

February 10, 2017 marked 22 years since the Russian Federation and nine other former Soviet republics ratified an agreement on the creation of a Commonwealth of Independent States joint air defense system (JADS).

At present, just six of the original ten signatories — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan — remain as active participants in the agreement. A seventh state, Uzbekistan, withdrew from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) from 1999-2006 and then again in 2012, but continues to participate in joint Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) air defense exercises and maintains bilateral cooperation with Moscow on air defense matters.

As for the states that no longer participate, Turkmenistan and Georgia severed their cooperation in 1997 (the latter withdrew from the CIS altogether in 2008), while Ukraine (which, like Uzbekistan, cooperated with Moscow on a bilateral basis) ceased all military ties with Russia following the annexation of Crimea. Despite these losses, however, the JADS has proven to be remarkably resilient in the face of often shaky relations among its remaining active members. Indeed, the Kremlin has shown no intentions of giving up on the system and has big plans for its future.