18 June 2004 10:26
Political dialogue priority in cooperation with NATO - Russian MP
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Moscow, 18 June: Political dialogue, the scope of which is constantly expanding, is the priority in Russian-NATO
cooperation, Lt-Gen Aleksey Sigutkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Security and Defence Issues Committee, says.
"Situations in regions, which are 'new' for NATO, including Afghanistan, are gradually included in the
scope of issues discussed," Sigutkin said, commenting on the two-day joint meeting of NATO Parliamentary Assembly
committees and the State Duma delegation, being completed in the Russian State Duma today. According to him, Russia
assists NATO by exchanging information, employing Russian military transport aircraft, and transporting cargo across
Russia, as far as Afghanistan is concerned.
Sigutkin said that much progress has been made as far as a number of large-scale joint Russian-NATO cooperation
projects are concerned, for instance, development of a theatre of missile defence, improvement of air traffic control,
and anti-personnel mine clearance. "Experts regularly exchange information on nuclear security, and WMD
nonproliferation. It is very important that we manage to find common ground in these areas, and produce common
assessments of the international environment," Sigutkin emphasized. According to him, the agenda of the
Russian-NATO dialogue includes a number of issues pertaining to legal, financial, and technical cooperation in
emergencies, and military transit.
Sigutkin also said that the feasibility of Russia's joining the agreement on the status of forces, regulating
the procedure for armed forces presence in foreign states, was of paramount importance. "Our future cooperation in
the sphere of military airlift aviation and logistics will depend on this document to a great extent," Sigutkin
stressed.
[Interfax-AVN military news agency web site] |
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