Russian Ambassador To Malaysia Expects Defense Cooperation Commission Session In April

KUALA LUMPUR (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2018) Russia expects to hold a session of the Russian-Malaysian intergovernmental commission on defense industry cooperation in April next year, Russian Ambassador to Malaysia Valery Yermolov told reporters on Wednesday.

"We have a commission on defense industry cooperation, meetings of the commission are held annually, the next is expected in April, if everything goes well," Yermolov said on the sidelines of the Asian conference of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

Commenting on media reports that Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed deliveries of Russian aircraft during the meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Singapore, the ambassador noted that it was actually not about deliveries, but about maintaining combat flight readiness of those aircraft that Russia has already delivered to Malaysia.

"At the beginning of the conversation [of the leaders], the Malaysian side raised the question not about the supply of military equipment, but about maintaining the combat flight readiness of those aircraft that Russia had delivered to Malaysia in due time," Yermolov said.

He added that this question was not simple and had been discussed for many years and must be solved on both sides.

"But as for the supply of new military equipment, I deeply doubt that, given the difficult economic and financial situation of Malaysia," the ambassador said.

The new authorities that came to lead the country in May this year found that Malaysia's national debt is too high, and are now deciding how to repay this debt, he explained.