MOSCOW. June 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Yury Baluyevsky and his Italian counterpart Jiampaolo di Paola will hold talks in Moscow on June 14, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Di Paola will arrive in Moscow on Sunday, the spokesman said. Also on June 14, he will meet with Colonel General Viktor Zavarzin, chairman of the State Duma defense committee. The meeting between di Paola, his delegation and chief of the Russian Defense Ministry's economy and finance department Lyubov Kudelina is scheduled for June 15.
The Italian delegation will complete its visit later on June 15.
Contacts between the Russian and Italian armed forces started in 1973. They were scaled up in 1992, and in 1992-1996 alone, 11 Italian military delegations traveled to Russia, the chief of the Italian Defense Staff made an official visit, and the defense minister made an unofficial visit. The Russian and Italian defense ministers exchanged visits in 2003. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov again visited Italy in March 2005.
Joint development of communication systems, exchange of views on long-term defense planning, discussing of possibilities of holding bilateral exercises, and logistics support and strategic troop transportation are the priority fields of bilateral cooperation, the spokesman said.