MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The State Duma lower house of Russian parliament established an expert-consultative council on Monday to deal with expansion of Russia's military and technical cooperation with foreign countries, a spokesman for the Duma defense committee told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
"The military and technical cooperation means quite high budget revenues making USD4bn in hard currency, and it is the Duma that passes the budget. The military and technical cooperation also means international treaties and agreements, and it is the Duma that ratifies those documents. Generally speaking, the military and technical cooperation is a part of the state policy and lawmakers cannot stay away from the issue," committee chairman Andrei Nikolayev said, commenting on the council establishment.
A recent extramural session of the committee that took place at the Rosoboronexport state-owned arms trading company exposed a large number of problems in the military and technical cooperation sphere, including those on the legislative level. Their solution requires detailed analysis, Nikolayev stressed.
Among members of the council are Pyotr Litavrin, deputy director of the Foreign Ministry department on international security and armament, Sergei Alexandrov, chief of the legal backing department in the Russian committee on military and technical cooperation, and Alexander Ostrometsky, head of a group of Rosoboronexport referents.