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US Secretary of Defense invites Russian Def Minister to visit US in 2013

He voiced this invitation as the two ministers spoke by telephone at the initiative of the American side

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, December 7 (Itar-Tass) – U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has invited his Russian opposite number, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to make an official visit to the U.S. in 2013.

He voiced this invitation as the two ministers spoke by telephone at the initiative of the American side, the Defense Ministry’s press service said Friday.

“December 7, Russian Defense Minister, Army General Sergei Shoigu had a telephone conversation with the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, in the course of which the two men discussed the prospects for bilateral relations between the two defense agencies,” a spokesman for the press service said.

“In the course of the conversation, Panetta congratulated Shoigu on the occasion of appointment to the Defense Minister’s position,” he said.

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