MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russian and Belarusian defense officials will hold talks April 21 on holding joint military exercises in June of this year, the defense minister said Monday.

Sergei Ivanov said the exercises would form part of the two countries' plans to create combined air-defense systems.

He said the exercises would be held under the auspices of Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - a regional security body that also includes the former Soviet republics of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan - but would involve only Russian and Belarusian troops.

The CSTO was founded in 2002 to ensure peace in the post-Soviet space and preserve member-countries' territorial integrity, as well as to fight terrorism, drug traffic, and international organized crime. Some experts say the organization was created to prevent NATO's further eastward expansion and keep some former Soviet republics under Russia's military protection.