Putin Advocates More Close-Knit Russian-uzbek Military-technical Cooperation

President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation advocates more close-knit military-technical cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan. Talking to reporters, after the signing of joint documents, Putin stressed that Russian-Uzbek military-technical cooperation would match the Central Asian situation. According to Putin, Russia will be furnishing the Uzbek army with uniforms, ammunition and combat hardware. In his words, such cooperation will proceed along two lines, that is, within the framework of our two countries's defense ministries and through commercial organizations, too. Uzbekistan's commercial organizations are responsible for tackling logistics-support issues; meanwhile similar Russian organizations export weapons, for the most part. At the same time, Putin stressed that bilateral military-technical cooperation will be supervised by Russian and Uzbek national security councils. All aspects of our bilateral cooperation were discussed in a candid manner, Putin added, also voicing hope to the effect that Islam Karimov's Russian visit would serve to expand relations in all spheres. For his own part, President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan noted that his country advocated Russia's Central Asian presence. According to Karimov, this constitutes the most substantial guarantee for attaining regional stability and for ensuring Central Asian security.