MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and his Swedish counterpart Bjorn von Sydow agreed on Friday to hold a joint naval exercise in the Baltic Sea this year.
The defense ministers "discussed concrete plans for expanding cooperation in the military sphere in 2002," Ivanov told reporters after the talks with von Sydow on Friday.
According to him, the defense ministers planned "a joint exercise in rescue in the sea" for this year. "The maneuvers will take place in the Baltic Sea," he said.
Ivanov said he had asked von Sydow to invite the head of the European Union's military committee to visit Russia. The Russian defense minister said that "Russia could discuss with the European Union the problem of transborder threats, possible cooperation in the peacekeeping sphere and military-technical cooperation in the future."
Von Sydow told reporters that in the course of negotiations Ivanov handed him a document that might become a basis for bilateral cooperation in protection from biological and chemical weapons.
Responding to questions from reporters, Ivanov stressed that the Russian position towards with U.S. withdrawal from the Anti- Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty had not changed. "We still consider the decision to be a mistake," he said, adding that Sweden shared Russia's position.