MOSCOW, June 5 (AVN) - Russia and Canada are taking part in 11 out of 13 UN-sponsored peacekeeping operations, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Tuesday.
Ivanov was speaking at the negotiations with his Canadian counterpart Arthur Eggleton who had arrived in Moscow on a three-day visit.
Ivanov stressed that the Canadian minister was making his first visit to Russia. According to him, the parties were planning to discuss international security and stability in Europe and the Atlantic, development of NATO-Russian relations, ways of settlement in the Balkans and experience of peacekeeping operations being carried out in Kosovo and Bosnia by Russian and Canadian peacekeepers.
The Russian party to the talks comprises Colonel General Alexander Skvortsov, deputy chief-of-staff of the Armed Forces, and Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, head of the Defence Ministry main department for international military co-operation. Canada is represented by Ambassador to Russia Rodney Irwin, official of the Canadian Defence Ministry's mission in NATO Admiral Jane King and Canadian Military Attache in Russia Ruslan Konik.