Russia and Kazakhstan are planning to set up a joint air-defense system in the very near future, a senior Russian military official said on Thursday, September 22.

"We already have such bilateral regional air-defense systems with Belarus and Armenia and in future we are planning to build a similar air-defense system with Kazakhstan," said Col. Gen. Valery Gerasimov, deputy chief of the General Staff of Russia's Armed Forces.

At present Kazakhstan's air-defense system is part of the integrated CIS air-defense system.

A bilateral air-defense system with Kazakhstan could be created "in the very near future," Gerasimov added, RIA Novosti reported.