MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) – Members of foreign delegations attending an international conference on European security on Friday visited a military base near Moscow hosting a motorized infantry division.
Defense officials and military experts from Armenia Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United States and Zimbabwe and were shown a training center, a shooting range and the barracks, among other facilities at the Taman Division in Alabino.
The visit ended the two-day Military and Political Aspects of European Security conference in Moscow which opened on Thursday.
During the first day, the participants exchanged views on the current state of and prospects for European security.
In an opening address to participants read by Presidential Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov, President Putin expressed his confidence that, despite differences over issues such as missile defense, the international community is in a good position to build and strengthen collective defense and security strategies.
Both Russia and the West agree that the flaws of the existing security system could leave Europe unprepared, should interstate or intrastate conflicts flare up on the continent again as happened in the Balkans in the 1990s and the Caucasus in 2008.
Russian officials reiterated that differences over missile defense, NATO’s continuing eastward expansion and the general lack of trust between Russia and the West remain key problems in European security.
