Cooperation accord between Denmark and the Russian Federation

Among others, Ms. Lillelund Bech met with her Russian minister of defence colleague, Mr. Anatoly Serdyukov, Russian vice-minister for foreign affairs, Mr. Sergej Ryabkov, and representatives for the Federation Council of Russia. During her visit, issues such as Danish-Russian bilateral cooperation were discussed. Other issues on the table were the relations between the Russian Federation and NATO, missile defence, the Arctic, piracy, terrorism and Afghanistan. A specific outcome of the visit was the signing by the two ministers of defence of a bilateral cooperation accord for the defence of the two nations. In relation to this, a cooperation programme for 2011 was agreed upon, with cooperation activities in the naval field, among other issues.

Minister of Defence Gitte Lillelund Bech states:

“The visit offered me a very good opportunity to take stock of the present bilateral defence cooperation between Denmark and the Russian Federation, and to examine the options for a further development of our future cooperation. I am pleased that my Russian colleague and I see eye to eye on the fact that Denmark and the Russian Federation share many interests, and that there is every reason to continue with an even closer cooperation. The new cooperation accord between the defences of our two countries is a good reflection of this.

The discussion today with my Russian colleague resulted in the decision that our staffs will now look closer into the actual possibilities for cooperation in areas such as logistics, buoyage in the Arctic, and environmental and energy-saving measures in the defence. All in all, it has been an extremely useful visit, where we had good opportunity to learn of the Russian perspectives for our mutual security challenges.”