Eleven CIS countries in Commonwealth-2001 exercises

On April 6 through 9 joint exercises of government communication agencies and troops were held in the territory of eleven countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The exercises were guided by Vladimir Matyukhin, chairman of the CIS Coordinating Council for Government Communication and FAPSI general director under the Russian president, RIA Novosti learnt from the external contacts board of the Federal Government Communication and Information Agency /FAPSI/. It is the third such exercise, held on the basis of the 1992 Collective Security Treaty, said a FAPSI spokesman. Special attention at the exercises "was given to interaction between bodies of control of government communication forces and means, operative duplicating and rehabilitating government communication networks of Commonwealth countries in conditions of possible threats of natural calamities and industrial emergencies and elimination of their consequencies". According to the FAPSI representative, the exercises worked out interaction between government communication units in the cause of joint antiterrorist operations.

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