Joint Collegium Of Russian, Belarussian Defence Ministries Convened In Moscow

A joint collegium of Russian and Belarussian defence ministries has opened in Moscow Thursday. According to Sergei Ivanov, head of the Russian military department, the session will focus on measures to strengthen combat partnership of the two countries, which signed the treaty on establishing the union state two years ago. The session is expected to approve a package of legal documents, which, according to the minister, specify measures to strengthen defence capacity and security of the Russia-Belarus Union State. One of the key issues on the joint collegium's agenda is that concerning the procedure of managing regional group of troops of Russia and Belarus. Belarussian Defence Minister Leonid Maltsev in turn expressed satisfaction with the fact that cooperation between the military departments of the two countries "continues to expand actively." He specially noted that work for rapprochement of the two countries' defence legislations has started this year.