Russia Open To Military, Defense Cooperation With European Countries - Foreign Ministry

Russia is open to cooperation with European countries in the conduct of military and defense cooperation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2018) Russia is open to cooperation with European countries in the conduct of military and defense cooperation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

"With regard to Russia's interaction with the EU, we are always open to military and defense interaction and cooperation with individual countries that are EU members, as well as with European countries that are not EU members," Zakharova said at a briefing.

The spokeswoman cited a few examples of such cooperation.

"We hold joint exercises, we are ready for openness and cooperation in this area, we inform our partners, even those who do not do it and do not reciprocate, about the upcoming maneuvers, we do this in order to relieve any concerns in some countries.

We call for active development of counter-terrorism interaction between intelligence and defense agencies both on a bilateral basis and within the framework and on the sites of international organizations," she said.

Such interaction has been quite successful until NATO blocked this dialogue, Zakharova added.