Russia to Preferentially Develop Military Cooperation With CIS Military AlliesRussia on Saturday vowed to preferentially develop military-technological cooperation with signatories of the CIS Collective Security Treaty.The principle is adopted as one of the two state concepts on Russia's military-technological cooperation during a Saturday government meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin. President Putin said at the Kremlin meeting that it was necessary to "determine the principles of relationships in the sphere of military-technological cooperation with the signatories of the treaty," which include Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. "Military-technological cooperation with the treaty nations must contribute in every possible way to the promotion of the security of those countries," the president noted. Deputy Defense Minister Mikhail Dmitriev told journalists after the meeting that the president demanded to clarify "what those countries expect to get and what Russia can give them." Dmitriev quoted Putin as saying that Russia's relations with the treaty members are allied, and this alliance has a military aspect among other characters. The meeting also considered the concept on military contacts with Western states for the period of up to 2010. Putin said "both concepts are basic and they determine the state's policies on promoting military-technological cooperation." He said elaboration of the concepts is most important thing today since "new regional centers and new security systems are now emerging in the world, and the balance of military-political forces is changing," while "military-technological cooperation is an effective instrument to influence these processes." Dmitriev said the president "expects work on implementing the two concepts to be started right away" without any more delay. In accordance with the approved concepts, he said that "work is proceeding on concrete plans of further work in the sphere of military-technological cooperation, including on the policy of prices, which is bound to be profitable." |
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