Military of Russia and Malaysia came to terms on planning joint combat-training activities

The Ministers of Defence of Russia and Malaysia have reached an agreement on planning joint combat-training activities, heads of the two military agencies Sergei Ivanov and Najib Tun Razak told journalists on Monday after their talks.

As Sergei Ivanov stressed, alongside having a detailed discussion of the problems of security and military-technical cooperation, the sides "reached an agreement on planning joint activities on combat training, for instance, of our Navies." Ivanov recalled that the Pacific Fleet of Russia is now staying in the Indian Ocean. "I think that our fleet will appear in the Indian Ocean in the future, too, and I will do everything in my power to make it appear there much more frequently," the Russian Minister stated.

As he said, "joint Russian-Malaysian exercises will be conducted" in these cases, "just as during the calls of the ships of the Malaysian Navy at our ports." Sergei Ivanov spoke highly of the further prospects of military and military-technical cooperation with Malaysia. He noted that the initialled contract for deliveries of the Su-30MKM aircraft shows Russia's preparedness for cooperation with Malaysia "in the high-technology spheres." "We have also a number of other proposals which it is too early to speak of in public now," the Minister said. He also emphasized that the Malaysian side's wishes would be taken into consideration first of all. "The customer is always right," Sergei Ivanov said jokingly.

The Russian Minister holds the view that the present talks testify also to the positive appraisal of the general situation in Malaysia by the Russian leadership. "We consider the situation in Malaysia to be normal and stable," the head of the Russian military agency stated. "The state is simultaneously ready to develop mutually advantageous relations with many countries, Russia included." "If an explosive situation had existed and terrorist acts had occurred here this would not, most likely, have been happening," he noted.