MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. Russia and Italy are planning to sign an agreement on carrying out rescue work on submarines in distress, Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said after the negotiations of the foreign and defense ministers from both countries in the 2x2 format in Rome on Tuesday.

"An agreement is being drafted on carrying out rescue work on submarines in distress," Shoigu stated, replying to a question from TASS.

This is an important agreement, the Russian defense minister stressed. "We hope that the group that is working on it will prepare it and we will be able to adopt it," Shoigu commented.

The fulfillment of accords on excluding dangerous incidents in the air and at sea is a major area of cooperation, the Russian defense minister added.

"This agreement, these accords are being implemented in full," he stressed.

"We hope that we will make amendments to these accords relating to the distance of the movement of aerial vehicles and sea vessels, especially in the areas where we have joint work, joint patrols and joint on-duty missions," he noted.

The Russian defense minister also said he hoped that Italy would accept the proposal to take part in the International Army Games. "I hope for the participation of our colleagues in one of more than 40 contests," he said.