MOSCOW, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said Friday the military would give Kazakhstan a Soviet-era missile defense system.
Antonov said Kazakhstan would get five battalions of the S-300PS system at no charge, RIA Novosti reported.
The deputy defense minister made the announcement in Moscow after a visit to Kazakhstan.
Antonov said the system, introduced in 1985 to engage targets more than 50 miles away, would bolster Kazakh defense abilities as part of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.
The Russian government signed deals with Kazakhstan last year to set up a regional air defense system in the former Soviet republic.
Last month, Kyrgyzstan, the southern neighbor of Kazakhstan, secured similar defensive aid from Russia.
