Army General Nikolai Makarov, Russian Chief of the General Staff, has met General Martin Dempsey, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the United States. The generals discussed the situation in Afghanistan, Syria, the Middle East and the Asian-Pacific Region and missile problems, RIA Novosti reports.
They also held a session of the working group for cooperation within the framework of the Russian-US presidential commission. The group was formed in 2009 to develop cooperation, coordinate realization of joint projects to enforce strategic stability and international security.
The group’s plan had only 17 events in 2009, but today’s plan has 110. This includes visits of military ships, educational exchanges and joint manoeuvres. US and Russian special forces have recently held training sessions at Fort Carson, in the state of Colorado.
The two states decided to cooperate on the European missile defense project at the summit in Lisbon, because the US refuses to give guarantees that the system would not be used against Russia. Moscow threatened to reinforce its Iskander missile complexes in the Kaliningrad Region and take other measures.
Makarov is on a visit to the US from July 10 to 13.
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said earlier that the goal of the negotiations was to explain the reasons Russia was placing missiles in Europe. He added that no progress should be expected until after the presidential polls set for November in the US.
