RUSSIA, ARMENIA READY TO JOIN EFFORTS IN FIGHTING CRIME – MINISTER

Interfax news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0704 gmt 27 Jul 07
RIA Novosti news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0715 gmt 27 Jul 07
Channel One TV, Moscow, in Russian 0800 gmt 27 Jul 07

Russia and Armenia’s law-enforcement agencies are to reinforce their
joint efforts in fighting international crime. This was announced today
at an Interior Ministry board meeting between the two countries in
Rostov-na-Donu attended by Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev,
as reported today by Russian Channel One. An agreement on cooperation
was signed following the meeting. The main focus of the two countries’
joint work will be fighting organized crime and drug smuggling,
as well as cooperating in training personnel, the report said.

"We consider it very important that this work be carried out not
only through our central unit. The main thing is to establish direct
regional contacts: this means efficiency, understanding shall we say,
and speed in making suitable decisions. We have already developed
concrete forms of regional cooperation," Nurgaliyev was quoted
as saying.

An Interfax report also quoted Nurgaliyev as saying that he did not
rule out the fact that criminals could be using Armenia as a transit
territory to smuggle drugs from Afghanistan to Russia, and then
to other European countries. "We are prepared to join efforts with
the Armenian police and carry out appropriate investigative search
operations in the given field," the report quoted Nurgaliyev as saying.

Nurgaliyev added that during the meeting, significant attention
had been drawn to the joint training of specialists in the field
of countering drug smuggling: "We have a centre for training
specialists in the field of countering drugs. Over the past year
alone, 17 Armenian police officers have undergone training there,"
he was quoted as saying.

Lt-Gen Ayk Arutyunyan, Head of Police of the Republic of Armenia, in
his turn noted that the 8th meeting of the joint board of the Russian
Interior Ministry and the Armenian police "was held in a cooperative
spirit, unanimous decisions were made", adding that "without such
events it is very difficult to determine what our priority directions
should be in countering crime", Interfax reported on 27 July.

The next board meeting between the two departments will be held in
June 2008 in Yerevan, where the two sides plan to discuss cooperation
in searching for people, and will consider criminal cases of an
international nature, RIA Novosti reported today quoting Nurgaliyev.