Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

RUSSIA, GERMANY MAY COOPERATE IN MILITARY TRAINING

RIA Novosti

MAGDEBURG (Germany), March 3 (RIA Novosti) - Sergei Ivanov, the Russian defense minister, believes that Russia and Germany may cooperate in military training in the future.

On Thursday, Mr. Ivanov visited a training center of the Bundeswehr land forces, Letzlinger, 40 km northwest of Magdeburg (the federal land Saxonia-Anhalt).

"Our generals and I found it useful to gain an insight into the work of this training center, and there was something to learn," the minister told reporters.

In particular, Mr. Ivanov found interesting such areas of further cooperation as the use of modern computer instruments and involvement of private firms into military training arrangements.

"This allows the armed forces to concentrate fully on their tasks. This is something we should learn to do," said Mr. Ivanov.

Mr. Ivanov and his German counterpart observed exercises with the use of tanks and other advanced military equipment at the Letzlinger shooting range, which is part of the Bundeswehr land forces training center.

When asked whether he has associations with Russian military training, Mr. Ivanov said, "Of course I do, but, certainly, there are many individual characteristics typical of each country," he said.

According to the Russian minister, one of the differences is that German colleagues mostly use simulated equipment while Russian servicemen conduct military training with real shooting.