Representatives of the Russian and American military departments held a videoconference aimed at prevention of air incidents in Syria

On January 28, Representatives of the Russian and American military departments have held a videoconference aimed at prevention of air incidents in Syria. They discussed the improvement of effectiveness of cooperation within the Memorandum on Flight Safety for the period of operations in Syria dated October 20, 2015.

It was noted that the Memorandum allowed to avoid unintended incidents between aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces and coalition headed by the USA.

The sides discussed upon the issues concerning raising effectiveness of cooperation within the agreement.

The parties reached an agreement to continue regular contacts.

Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu held the defence department Board session

Today, the Board session of the Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation was held in Moscow under the leadership of the Head of the defence department General of the Army Sergei Shoigu.

Leadership of the Armed Forces, representatives of the state power and public Council of the Russian Defence Ministry took part in the session.

In accordance to the agenda, issues of implementation of the Activity Plan 2016-2020 on the Northern Fleet concerning forming of military units in the interests of providing military safety of the Russian Federation in the Arctic, and project of Concept of the Russian Federation intellectual activity right control centralized system, which is under supervision of the defence department, were discussed during the Board session.

The Board also listened to the report about reinforcing combat staff of the Airborne in the course of developing rapid reaction forces.

Talking about forming of military units of the Northern Fleet in the Arctic and creation of the supporting infrastructure, the Defence Minister reminded that the work was performed in the course of implementation of scheduled orders of the President of the Russian Federation and his decrees taken after the Sochi sessions as well as in the course of realization of the 2014 Military Doctrine, which provides protection of the national interests in the Artic zone.

The Head of the military department stated that military object construction were actively conducted on archipelagos of Frantz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and New Siberian Islands. Necessary conditions for life activity of the servicemen are being created there.

According to the Defence Minister, construction of unique administrative and living complexes on Kotelny Island and Alexandra Land, which were designed for all year round duty of the servicemen, is in the final stage.

General of the Army Sergei Shoigu stressed that the primary attention was paid to the air space condition in the Arctic.

According to the Head of the defence department, the 45th Air Force and Air Defence Northern Fleet Army was formed in December, 2015. Military units of radiotecnic troops and air defence missile regiment, which was equipped with S-300 Favorit modernized missile systems, has been put into air defence duty on Frantz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and New Siberian Islands.

Moreover, the Defence Minister noted that the permanent deployment force grouping was building-up.

According to him, the Russian Armed Forces will raise their capabilities on reacting to current and forecasted threats, and providing protection of the national interests in the region.

Speaking about another issue on the agenda, the Head of the military department noted the importance of building-up of the combat strength of the Airborne Troops within the development of the Rapid Reaction Forces.

Development of the combat capabilities will be carried out by improvement of the combat strength of the Airborne Troops and their equipment with modern and forward-looking samples of military hardware, reconnaissance ad EW means.

According to the Head of the military department, taking into consideration the necessity of optimization of expenses for maintenance and equipment of the Armed Forces, the proposals on building-up of the combat strength of the Airborne Troops and development of the Rapid Reaction Forces were discussed.

Before the consideration of the issues on the agenda, the Minister of Defence informed the participants concerning the changes in the composition of the Russian Defence Ministry Board.

The Head of the military department informed that Ruslan Tsalikov had taken up his functions as the First Deputy Defence Minister. Lieutenant General Alexey Dyumin has become the new member of the Russian Defence Ministry Board and has been appointed to the post of the Deputy Defence Minister.

After introduction, the ceremony of presenting of personal standards to Ruslan Tsalikov, Alexey Dyumin as well as to the Commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army Major General Alexander Chaiko took place.