BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

01/05/2008

Russian DM: Russia, Belarus to strengthen military co-op

Russia and Belarus will strengthen cooperation in the military-political and military fields, visiting Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in Minsk Wednesday, Itar-Tass reported.

"Cooperation in the defense sector between the armed forces of our states continues to develop," Serdyukov said at a meeting of senior Belarussian and Russian military officials.

He added that NATO's expansion, U.S. plans to deploy missile defense facilities and the situation in the Middle East confirms the need for closer coordination of Russian and Belarus' actions in such fields.

The minister expressed confidence that "the pooling of our potential in the defense sphere is an important factor to neutralize any aggressive challenges or threats."

Belarussian Defense Minister Leonid Maltsev, for his part, said the "joint solution of defense policy issues create firm groundwork for building planned interaction and military cooperation which is implemented on the bilateral basis and within the Collective Security Treaty."

The meeting would focus on a Russian-Belarusian intergovernmental agreement on joint technical support of the regional group of troops, and the bilateral agreement on interaction in the field of electronic countermeasures, the Belarussian Defense Ministry was quoted as saying.

Source:

http://english.eviewweek.com/Russian-DM-Russia-Belarus-to-strengthen-military-co-op.shtml

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