RUSSIA TO PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT MILITARY AID TO ALLIES SAYS IVANOV

RIA Novosti, Russia
Oct 4 2006

BISHKEK, October 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will allocate significant
funds for military-technical assistance to its allies, the defense
minister said Wednesday.

Sergei Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, is on a visit to
Kyrgyzstan to attend a joint antiterrorism exercise in the south of
the country.

"Russia will allocate a significant sum this year and the next year,
although I will not name the amount, for [military] assistance to
our allies," Ivanov told a news conference after talks with his
Kyrgyz counterpart.

"Russia has passed legislation that establishes the concept of
military-technical assistance and I insisted on that," Ivanov said.

Russia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization,
a post-Soviet security grouping that also includes Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is also in the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization, a regional security body in Central Asia
that includes China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Ivanov earlier said Russia was ready to provide military-technical
assistance to all its allies, but does not want to impose it. So
far, Russia has provided military equipment worth 15 million rubles
($555,000) to Kyrgyzstan under military cooperation agreements.

Ivanov also said that the current anti-terrorism exercises in
Kyrgyzstan aimed to practice interaction of special forces units
against the backdrop of increased activity of radical Islamic groups
in Central Asia.

"We cannot speak about effectively uniting efforts in countering
terrorism and extremism without these practical measures," the
minister said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress