Russia hands over Mi-35M helicopters to Belarus

The Belarusian Air Force has received a batch of Russian Mi-35M helicopters.

The Ministry of Defense of Belarus stated that it had received 4 helicopters.

The Mi-35M helicopters landed at the Machulishchy air base in the Minsk region.

The piloting was carried out by Belarusian pilots who had been trained at the training center of the Russian Armed Forces.

Back in 2020, Moscow and Minsk agreed to supply several types of military equipment to Belarus.

The main ones were, namely: a contract for the supply of two battalion sets of BTR-82A armoured personnel carriers and a contract for the supply of Mi-35M.

It was also announced that Belarus would receive a significant number of air defense systems.

The Mi-35M, unlike the Mi-24 of other modifications, has a non-retractable landing gear. The helicopter has a shortened wing with two instead of three weapon mounts.

Arms supply

In recent years, Russia has been supplying arms to Belarus within the framework of military cooperation.

In addition to the Mi-35M, this year the Russians delivered the S-400 air defense missile system to the Belarusian army. At Russian training grounds, Belarusian anti-aircraft gunners completed a full course of training for the combat use of the system.

Last year, a batch of Russian-made Tor-M2K air defense systems arrived in Belarus.

Russia also plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. According to the Russian president, the construction of a tactical nuclear weapons storage facility in Belarus was to be completed by July 1.