US Admiral Mullen expects military-to-military ties with Russia to strengthen.

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WASHINGTON, April 22 (Itar-Tass) -- The Chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen hopes to further strengthen and
develop his relationship with the Chief of the Russian Army General Staff,
General of the Army Nikolai Makarov.
He also expects military-to-military relations between the two
countries to develop as well.
Makarov is beginning his working visit to the United States on
Thursday, April 22.
In an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass ahead of the April 22-24
visit, Mullen said it had been scheduled last year. This is going to be
the fifth meeting between Mullen and Makarov over the past year. Three of
those meetings focused on the new START Treaty that was signed by Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama in Prague on
April 8.
However Mullen says Makarov and he "have had ongoing discussions
around many issues: one of which is modernising our militaries; two, the
mutual challenges we have in respect to counter-terrorism; three, the
mutual challenges that we have in something like piracy."
"I've talked to him about the relationship between NATO and Russia. We
have had a very frank discussion about missile defence. We've also talked
to some degree about our operations. And by that I mean we tried not to
surprise each other with exercises and things like that," Mullen said.
Having recalled that in addition to the five personal meetings,
Makarov and he had talked "at least that many more times on the
telephone", Mullen said the purpose of these contacts is to discuss "the
important issues of our time and look how we can work together and work
better and grow this relationship".
After Medvedev and Obama have formed the Presidential Commission at
their summit in Moscow at their summit in Moscow in July 2009, relations
between the Russian and American militaries have been developing within
the framework of this bilateral mechanism.
Makarov and Mullen are co-chairmen of the relevant working group
within the commission. The group has its own working plan that allows the
two sides to "train together and conduct exercises".

.Mullen says joint threat assessment with Russia "makes sense".

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Itar-Tass) -- The Chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen said a joint threat assessment with
Russia would "make sense".
"This is a very, very sensitive subject. I understand that. But the
United States' goal is still to be able to work with Russia in the area of
missile defence," Mullen said in an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass
ahead of the Chief of the Russian Army General Staff, General of the Army
Nikolai Makarov's visit to the United States that begins on Thursday,
April 22.
"There have been very, very frank discussions about missile defence,
quite frankly, throughout the START discussions," he said when asked
whether he saw real prospects for cooperation in this field and in which
specific areas. "The United States still has a very sincere offer out
there to work with Russia on missile defence, to cooperate in the
technology, to cooperate in the capability, and to cooperate in the
missile architecture of the future."
Prior to this trip to America, Makarov said Russia had invited the
United States to "first do joint threat assessment, risk assessment, and
then decide how to respond".
When asked whether this is acceptable to Washington, Mullen said,
"Certainly we need to understand what the threat is. And so doing
something like this makes sense to me."

.Russia will gain from fleet, Ukraine from gas, senators say.

MOSCOW, April 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia will gain from the fleet and
Ukraine from gas, and together from the mutually advantageous cooperation
between the two peoples and two economies, Russian senators said,
commenting on the agreement reached by the presidents of the two countries
on the Russian Black Sea Fleet and gas supplies.
"The time has come for such reasonable strategic decisions," the
senators said.
"Both sides have done a great job," Deputy Chairman of the Federation
Council Committee on Natural Resources Vasily Duma, who is also the head
of the Ukrainian Community in Russia, said.
"When Yushchenko was at the helm in Kiev, I kept on saying that there
is no point in reducing the price of gas for Ukraine and let it pay as the
rest of Europe does. But times and relations have changed, and we need to
make mutual concessions," he said.
"By extending the agreement on the Black Sea Fleet, Ukraine take care
not only of Russia but also of its own interests. By reducing the price of
gas, we have taken care of its economy," Duma said.
"Even if Russia loses 3-4 billion U.S. dollars a year, as experts have
calculated, this will be justified because it is not necessary to count
everything down to the last kopeck. Money does not decide everything.
Russia will gain somewhere else," he said.
Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Industrial
Policy Sergei Shatirov described the agreement as "a test of our relations
on the basis of mutual respect and trust".
-0-zak/