MOSCOW. June 1 (Interfax-AVN) - A team of officers of the Russian Interior Ministry's special-purpose units will go on a utilization tour to France, Colonel Vasily Panchenkov, chief of the forces' press service, said on Thursday.
"The accord to send Russian special-purpose unit officers for a utilization tour to a training center of the French National Gendermerie's special-purpose regiment was reached during talks between Lieutenant General Sergei Bunin, Russian Interior Ministry Forces chief-of-staff, and Jean-Christian Cadi, head of the French police's international technical cooperation service," Panchenkov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The French party confirmed that it will send observers to a competition of special-purpose platoons in the framework of the Russian Interior Ministry Forces' sports competition, to be held in Novosibirsk in September 2006.
"During the talks, the parties shared experience in countering terrorism and application of the Russian Interior Ministry Forces and French Gendermerie," Panchenkov said.
Bunin noted during the talks that cooperation between Russian and French law-enforcement bodies is explained by common challenges and threats, primarily the terrorist threats, and the necessity to achieve interoperability of the Russian Interior Ministry Forces and French Gendarmerie.