Russian Defence Minister announces progress in Russia-NATO cooperation in "20" format

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has stated that "the past three years have seen the strengthening of the Russia-NATO cooperation mechanism in the "twenty" format, and the work of military experts and secret services has resulted in significant progress".

Sergei Ivanov made this statement at a press conference with Russian journalists following an informal meeting with the NATO member-states' Defence Ministers. "The participants of the Warsaw meeting have started quite an open conversation about further development of cooperation in combating international terrorism, conducting peacekeeping operations, as well as other areas of military cooperation," he pointed out.

The document on rescue at sea is almost ready and now the NATO member-states speak about the preparation of a NATO special rescue ship, the Minister said. The NATO asked Russia to provide all the necessary characteristics of the Russian rescue machinery and the Navy staff has already provided them with all the necessary data, the Minister added.

The NATO member-states take an interest in Russian means of transport, the Minister pointed out. They lack transport capacities to ship their forces and equipment over big distances to conduct peacekeeping operations, Ivanov said. In this context, a frame document on conducting exercises to load the NATO armaments in Russian military transport planes is currently being drafted, Ivanov stated. Ivanov believes, the document must be signed in a few months. In this case, these exercises can be conducted as early as next year.