AKIPRESS.COM - The tight integration of the Commonwealth of Independent States’ anti-aircraft defense forces in the region is an important direction in uniting the CIS missile defense systems, a deputy director of the CIS coordinating committee told Sputnik Tuesday.

“The priority in the development [of the unified air defense systems] is a further integration in the region, that is the creation of unified or united regional air defense systems in the eastern European, Central Asian, and Caucasus regions for collective security,” Gen.Lt. Pavel Kurachenko said during a CIS defense ministers’ meeting in Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe.

Russia has long been leading efforts to build a joint air defense shield for the CIS, a loose organization of former Soviet republics.

An integrated air defense network was set up by 10 CIS-member countries in 1995 and currently comprises air defense units and elements from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

The main purpose of the network is to ensure the protection of member country airspace, as well as early warning of missile attacks and coordination of joint efforts to neutralize potential air threats.