NATO Military Committee chief to visit Russia July 22-24.

MOSCOW, July 22 (Itar-Tass) - NATO's Military Committee Chairman,
Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola will arrive in Moscow on Thursday, July 22, on
a three-day visit to finally confirm that Russia-NATO military relations
have been defrosted.
This is Paola's first visit to Russia since his appointment to the
post on June 27, 2008.
The main goal of the visit is to confirm the restoration of
Russia-NATO relations in the military field.
On July 23, Paola will meet with the chief of the General Staff of the
Russian Armed Forces, General Nikolai Makarov. "The sides intend to review
interim results of interaction between Russia and NATO in 2010 and discuss
prospects for further cooperation in the fields of mutual interest.
Priority attention will be paid to the fight against sea piracy,
logistical support, and cooperation in the settlement of the situation in
Afghanistan," the Defence Ministry press service said.
"The NATO delegation will visit the 5th Motorised Infantry Brigade of
the Moscow [Military] District to familiarise itself with the training of
the servicemen and the material and technical base of the brigade created
as part of the Armed Forces reform. Admiral Di Paola will meet with the
NATO military attaches accredited in Moscow to tell them of the priority
areas of military cooperation between Russia and NATO," the press service
said.
The Italian admiral will also give a lecture on relations between
Russia and NATO at the Centre for European Security Studies.
During his visit Paola will discuss military cooperation with Russia
in the four main areas set forth in the Russia-NATO action plan for 2010 -
antiterrorist efforts, fight against piracy, logistical support to troops,
and search and rescue operations at sea.
In an interview with Itar-Tass before the trip, Di Paola said this
would be the first visit to Moscow by a high-ranking representative of the
alliance's military command after a rough period of bilateral relations
caused by the Georgian crisis in August 2008.
The visit will be a result of the political resetting of relations
that began in 2009 at a meeting of foreign ministers. The admiral believes
that the political resetting dos not mean that there are no more
disagreements between Russia and NATO, but it indicates the two sides'
commitment to restoring and strengthening mutual trust.
Russia and NATO halted military cooperation after the conflict in
South Ossetia in August 2008 and resumed it during the meeting of the
Russia-NATO Council at the level of chiefs of the General Staff in
Brussels on January 26, 2010.
The chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General
Nikolai Makarov, visited Brussels for the second time on May 5 to approve
a plan of cooperation.
The political dialogue between Russia and NATO was reset in May 2009.

.Kyrgyzstan ready to consider hosting another Russian military base.

BISHKEK, July 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Kyrgyzstan is ready to consider
hosting another Russian military base, the country's caretaker President
Roza Otunbayeva said.
"We are ready to consider such things, but no one has talked to us
about that so far," she told Russian news agencies on Wednesday.
Otunbayeva assumed that the new Kyrgyz government remains "semi-
legitimate" for some foreign partners and has to "clearly and
definitively" substantiate its legitimacy.
The construction of a second Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan
remains relevant, Kyrgyz Charge d'Affaires in Russia Ulukbek Chinaliyev
said earlier.
"The question of building a second Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan
was discussed with the former administration of Bakiyev. The issue was
discussed in order to normalise the situation in the republic," he said.

.Faults in police work do not mean all Interior Ministry corrupt -
Nurgaliyev.

SELIGER, July 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Shortcomings in police work do not
mean that the whole Interior Ministry is corrupt, Interior Minister Rashid
Nurgaliyev said.
"There may be some nasty phenomena, but they do not mean that the
whole Interior Ministry is corrupt," Nurgaliyev said at a meeting with
Seliger-2010 youth forum participants on Wednesday, July 21.
"Tens and hundreds of thousands of officers honestly do their job," he
added.
He stressed that Interior Ministry reform would help cleans its ranks.
"Reform and modernisation are necessary. It should mould a new image of
Russian police," he said.
Under a decree signed by President Dmitry Medvedev, the Interior
Ministry's size should be reduced by 227,000 personnel by 2012. "But this
does not mean an arithmetic approach based on subtraction and division,"
Nurgaliyev said.
He said the ministry would focus on the prevention of threats to
society. "The emphasis will also be placed on human rights and freedoms,"
he said.
Special attention will be paid to crime prevention.
"One should not be ashamed of police uniform. Let those be shamed who
break the law," the minister said, adding that cleansing the ministry's
ranks was "a conscientious approach."
-0-zak/


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