RF, ARMENIA AGREE TO STEP UP EXCHANGE OF OPERATIONAL INFO

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
June 28, 2006 Wednesday

Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said Russia and Armenia
had agreed to step up the exchange of operational information.

"At the joint collegium Russia’s Interior Ministry and Armenia’s
police decided to step up the exchange of operational, criminalistic
and other information," Nurgaliyev said on Wednesday.

In his speech the Russian minister pointed to a high level of
cooperation with Armenia’s police. "Russian-Armenian cooperation in
the sphere of crime control is developing effectively," he said.

The Russian Interior Ministry and the Armenian police regularly rivet
their attention crime control. The strengthening of cooperation in
curbing illegal migration is one of the most topical problems, the
minister stressed.

Nurgaliyev deems it necessary to promote cooperation between Russia
and Armenia to combat economic crimes. "Economic relations between
our two countries are subject to the influence and close attention
of criminal circles," the minister said. "The Collegium’s duty is to
objectively review the situation in this domain."

Nurgaliyev noted that trade turnover between Russia and Armenia was
annually increasing. "It grew by forty per cent in 2005 as compared
to the 2004 figure. Russian capital accounts for a quarter of the
total authorised capital of the banks registered in Armenia. Several
joint large-scale projects are being implemented in the field
of telecommunications and energy," the minister stated. More than
seventy Russian regions have economic contacts with Armenia. Moscow,
St. Petersburg, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Sverdlovsk Regions have
the biggest trade turnovers with Armenia, he added.

The law enforcement agencies of the two countries are constantly
exchanging information on the organisations engaged in economic
transactions between Russia and Armenia. For instance, the inter-state
databank on crimes linked with money forging and marketing of
counterfeit money is being constantly replenished, Nurgaliyev noted.

Many economic crimes, such as smuggling, fraud, and illegal
entrepreneurship were disclosed thanks to the improved exchange of
information between the law enforcement structures of Russia and
Armenia, he stressed.