Russia plans to form regional force groupings with the participation of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, Vladimir Putin said.

“This year we held the successful Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2013 strategic military exercises. The next step is developing regional force groupings and involving Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan,” Putin said during the ceremony in Kremlin.

Russia plans “to strengthen unified air defense system with Belarus, and begin to establish such regional systems with Armenia and Kazakhstan”, the Kremlin official website reported.

“Such cooperation significantly increases our defense potential and that of our partners, and contributes to strengthening peace and stability throughout Eurasia,” Putin emphasized.