The S-300PS surface-to-air missile system can hit targets 150 kilometers (93 miles) away, the Russian defense ministry's daily newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda said in a report on a visit to Minsk by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on Friday, when the first S-300 delivery arrived.

"The complex international situation confirms the need for tighter coordination of of activities of the Russian and Belarussian military sectors," the paper quoted Ivanov as saying.

Top defense officials from both countries have firmly denied a report earlier in the week published on the website of the British defense journal Jane's Intelligence Digest that Belarus had agreed to transfer the S-300 systems to Iran to defend against possible US or Israeli air strikes.

The Russian defense ministry said Monday that the report "does not correspond to reality" while Belarussian Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev dismissed the report as "nonsense", ITAR-TASS news agency said.

Russia and Belarus have recently stepped up talk of integrating their military forces as part of plans, on the drawing board for around a decade, for an eventual merger of Belarus with Russia.

"Military integration in the framework of creating a unified state is one of the top priorities for Russia and Belarus," Krasnaya Zvezda said.