Russia, Greece to hold joint naval drills in 2010

The Russian and Greek navies will conduct joint exercises in 2010 as part of a bilateral military cooperation action plan, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

Anatoly Serdyukov met on Tuesday his Greek counterpart Evangelos Venezelos in Moscow to discuss bilateral military ties and a Russian initiative to sign a new European security treaty.

"15 events are planned for 2010 for the Russian and Greek servicemen, including exchanges, reciprocal visits of the countries' warships and joint naval drills," spokeswoman for the Russian defense minister Irina Kovalchuk told reporters.

Military-technical cooperation between Russia and Greece began in 1993 and the countries signed an intergovernmental agreement that is currently in force two years later. In the 1990s, Greece acquired over $1 billion worth of Russian weapons.

Russian TOR-M1 air defense systems, Kornet and Fagot antitank weapons, as well as air cushion landing craft Zubr are in service with the Greek Armed Forces.

"Our relations in the sphere of military-technological cooperation are very constructive. And they play an important role both in the development of bilateral relations between Russia and Greece and in the development of Russia-EU relations in general," the Greek defense minister said.

From: RIA

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