CIS AIR DEFENSE COOPERATION CONTAINED BY LACK OF INTERAGENCY COORDINATION – RUSSIAN AIR FORCE CHIEF

Interfax News Agency
Central Asia General Newswire
February 14, 2007 Wednesday

The effective cooperation of CIS member-states over the Unified
Air Defense System is set back by the lack of coordination in the
actions of some ministries and agencies of the CIS countries, Army
General Vladimir Mikhailov, Russian Air Force commander-in-chief,
told a news conference aboard the plane to Yerevan.

"We lack active interaction in this aspect," he said.

According to him, the main reason such lack of interaction is the
main reason why the full-scale cooperation between CIS air defense
forces is stalled.

Speaking of cooperation with Yerevan in air defense, he noted that
Russia takes the full responsibility for the security of Armenian
airspace borders in the framework of the Unified Air Defense System.

Mikhailov arrived in Yerevan with a working visit to chair the Thursday
meeting of the Coordination Committee of the CIS Air Defense.

Mikhailov took over control of the Il-18 aircraft that took the
Russian military delegation to Armenia during a part of the flight.