BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

2005-04-21 01:58:37

Belarus, Russia decide to unify military legislation

www.chinaview.cn

MOSCOW, 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The Belarussian and Russian defence ministries have hammered out a draft program that lays down the fundamental principles of the Union State's military legislation, the Itar-Tass news agency reported from Minsk on Wednesday.

Belarussian Defence Minister Leonid Maltsev told a press conference, "The main purpose of harmonizing Belarussian and Russian military legislation is to work out unified approaches towards military duty and military service."

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said both countries would preserve their peculiarities of conscription. "We are realists and we are working in order to protect the rights of servicemen in the regional group. We want our servicemen who operate jointly to have the same rights," he said.

Maltsev meanwhile underlined that "It is an internal matter of each state to decide how to carry out its military policy based on the economic situation."

He believed that the Belarussian and Russian military "have transferred from working out theoretic things to specific actions."

The draft document will be coordinated with all the executive bodies concerned by the end of this year or early next year. The document will also be submitted to the Council of Ministers of the Union State for consideration, according to the report.

Source:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/21/content_2857041.htm