ZVYOZDNY GORODOK, JULY 22 (RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT SERGEI RYABIKIN). There are no contradictions between the Defense Ministry and Security Council on the military reform in Russia. Russia`s Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and Security Council Secretary Yury Baturin expressed this common point of view while visiting the Cosmonauts Training Center in Zvyozdny Goronok (not far from Moscow).

Baturin acknowledged that there still exist different points of view on several issues, however they are being discussed and the parties listen to the arguments of each other. "We act together and in coordination with each other," he emphasized.

For his part, Sergeyev said that one cannot do without contradictions after the decision on the military reform was adopted. The may thing is that they should not be principal, he said. Now "we are entering a period when contradictions are useful as a counterbalance for adopting optimal decisions." Due to this, he said, the command of the Armed Forces conducts conferences with the central apparatus, with commanders-in-chief because it is necessary to take into consideration all points of view in implementing the military reform.

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Johnson's Russia List

#1073

22 July 1997

djohnson@cdi.org