MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. Russia believes that the key tasks for the defense agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States include the fight against international terrorism and seeking a higher role for the military in providing for the group’s security, a top Russian Defense Ministry official said on Thursday.
The official, Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov, also outlined some of the current activities of the group’s militaries, speaking at a meeting of the Military-Technical Committee of the Defense Ministers Council of the CIS countries in Moscow.
"New forms of cooperation are being tested and there’s a consistent effort toward field training and professional military training,’’ he said.
The CIS partners maintain the momentum and direction of their military cooperation, he said at the meeting attended by deputy defense ministers from Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
They discussed the results of various military exercises, including West-2021 and Echelon 2021, and some other issues such as how to improve maintenance of artillery rocket weapons and the development of buggy-type military transports. The attendees also visited an exhibition of military equipment prototypes for Russia’s armed forces.