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France, Russia Cooperating on Military Technology, French Defense Minister Says
By Interfax
posted: 03:26 pm ET
22 January 2001
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MOSCOW MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) -- France and Russia have joint projects in the military technical cooperation sphere, French Defense Minister Alain Richard has said. Aviation and space are traditional spheres of close common interests for Russia and France, he said in an interview with Interfax. In particular, the matter involves the modernization of a training airplane on the basis of MiG-AT. "We participated in this project and want to promote this aircraft on the world market," he said. France and Russia also jointly analyze the problem of "observing the movement of space objects so as to be aware of the activity in the space and exchange information on this score," the minister noted. "We believe that the creation of the transport aircraft A-400M provides opportunities for cooperation with the Russian defense enterprises," Richard said. The European defense industry is operating in market conditions and must be cost-effective, which should be taken into account when talking about military technical cooperation with Russia, the minister said. When asked to comment on the European Union's (EU) plans to set up rapid response forces to solve peacekeeping tasks, the French minister welcomed cooperation with Russia in carrying out such operations. The EU is open to cooperation and the exchange of opinions with Russia on this issue, he said, pointing out that this European defense structure "will not be an alternative to NATO." Joint participation in the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo is a manifestation of fruitful cooperation between France and Russia, Richard said.
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