MOSCOW, December 31. /TASS/. Russia and Belarus intend to develop defense cooperation in view of reluctance of the West to meet halfway, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told TASS in an interview.

"I would like to note that the activity of our foreign policy offices is aimed at searching for ways of settling any matters in a political-diplomatic way. Nevertheless, in view of non-readiness of the West to look for taking the middle path, the program [of coordinated foreign policy actions] contains provisions pertaining to coordination of interaction in military-political aspects and defense cooperation development," Lavrov said.

The updated Military Doctrine of the Union State approved on November 4 will be an important helping hand in such activities, the Minister said. "It fully caters for significant changes in the military-political situation in Eastern Europe that have occurred in recent years," Lavrov added.