MINSK. Oct 22 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) head Sergei Naryshkin told reporters that in his meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, they discussed placing focus on efforts in the sphere of security.
"Naryshkin said he had a substantive conversation with the president of Belarus on allied relations, on concentrating efforts on security issues. They also discussed the strengthening of cooperation in various spheres, not only between the special services," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA said in a report released on Thursday.
According to BelTA, the meeting addressed the development of economic and military-political cooperation.
Some issues related to cooperation between the special services will be addressed at a joint session of the State Security Committee and SVR boards on Thursday.
"This is already a traditional instrument of interaction between the two special services. We sum up the results of the work done in previous periods and make joint plans for the future at such meetings every year," Naryshkin told reporters.
Naryshkin said the special services of Belarus and Russia have made considerable use of each other's analytical potential over the past few years. "Moreover, we work together on serious documents analyzing the situation in specific flashpoint areas in the world," he said. The operational and intelligence information obtained by the SVR and the State Security Committee is used to draw up analytical information concerning threats to both countries' interests, Naryshkin said.
"Besides, we exchange a considerable amount of operational and intelligence information on issues concerning the fight against international terrorism. We're interested in everything that concerns the transit of terrorists, channels used for obtaining financial resources, the plans and intentions of terrorist organizations, specific groups, the plans they have for Belarus, the Russian Federation - it's a very active area of cooperation," Naryshkin said.