MOSCOW. June 6 (Interfax-AVN) - Military and military- technical cooperation will dominate the agenda of the CIS Defense Ministers Council session that is to be held in Kazakhstan June 9.
"The heads of defense ministries will consider, in particular, measures for strengthening control over sales of Igla and Strela portable air defense missile systems in the CIS," a source in the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
"This problem is rather actual, as the threat of terrorism on the CIS territory still remains," he said.
The source noted that the ministers would consider a plan of joint combat training, as well as flights security in the CIS armed forces.
Evaluation of activity of the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone and discussion of the forthcoming Southern Shield of the Commonwealth 2003 joint command post exercise are also on the agenda of the session.
"The defense ministers will consider a special program of the CIS armed forces' comprehensive counteraction to air attack forces and means, as well as the concept of the Combat Commonwealth-2003 joint exercise with live firing of air defense forces," the source said.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Vladimir Mihailov, Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Alexey Moskovsky, Chief of Armament of the Armed Forces and Chief of the Armed Forces Political Work Directorate Lieutenant General Nikolai Reznik will speak at the session on behalf of Russia.