MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Polish Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski expressed his country's interest in forging military-technical cooperation with Russia during a one-day visit to Moscow. The Polish and Russian defense ministers signed a cooperation agreement to the effect.
"We defined the cooperation framework for companies which produce and repair armaments and military equipment," the minister said in an interview published in the Thursday issue of Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
"We need spare parts, technologies and catalogs, as well as training," he said.
The agreement is beneficial for Poland, which has plenty of Russian-made equipment, Szmajdzinski said. "We need to repair, modernize and maintain it," he said. "We also want to respect copyright. That is why the Russian Defense Ministry and we have defined the framework for concrete agreements between companies, for instance between the military depots at Bydgoszcz and Russia's Rosoboronexport in repair and supply of spare parts for the MIG-29 Fulcrum and SU-22 Fitter."
There is also an agreement on repairing MI-24 Hind helicopters.
Szmajdzinski admitted that the 1990s were not very fruitful as far as Russian-Polish military cooperation is concerned.
"Only Vladimir Putin's visit to Warsaw and his numerous contacts with our President Aleksander Kwasniewski, as well as establishment of the Strategy Committee for Polish-Russian Cooperation led by the foreign ministers of the two countries gave an impulse for joint work in many spheres, including in defense issues," the minister said.
A cooperation plan was outlined during the subsequent visit of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to Poland. The plan dealt with normalizing air traffic control, exchanging data in crisis situations, and protecting the copyright of military hardware designers.
Warsaw expressed interested in sending its officers for studies in Russian military academies and in accepting Russian officers for studies in Polish higher military educational establishments.
According to Szmajdzinski, it is necessary to ensure interaction between the Polish Land Forces, Polish Navy, command of the Russian Baltic Fleet, and military units based in Russia's western enclave of Kaliningrad.
"All these issues are at the negotiating stage yet. Today we discussed the following projects: upgrade of the MI-24 helicopters and procurement of new MIG-AT trainers," the minister said.
Szmajdzinski said Russian Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Anatoly Kvashnin may come to Warsaw if the parties work out an agreement on data exchange in crisis situations.
A conference on equipment for Russian-made armored vehicles, automobiles and aviation will take place in Warsaw in May, the minister added.