Sergey Ivanov: co-operation with EU is extremely important for Russia

Russian defence Minister Sergey Ivanov met with European Union Secretary General Javier Solana in Moscow. The EU leader also met with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. During the both meetings the sides were discussing the questions of Russo-European co-ordination. According to the Defence Minister, Russia is interested in the participation in EU peace-making operations and hopes to take part in the creating of European satellite navigation system Galileo. Evidently, Moscow regards EU as a counterbalance to the United States, in particular, as regards Washington’s schedule to establish Nation Missile Defence. A few days earlier Vladimir Putin mentioned in his Address to the Federal Assembly that the integration into the European community is becoming a new priority of the Russian foreign policy.