Valdai Club

The analytical report “Military Reform: Toward the New Look of the Russian Army” summarizes the results of the conference of the Valdai Discussion Club Defense and Security section titled “Modernization of Russia’s Armed Forces and Cooperation in International Security” which was held on May 25-27, 2011 in Moscow.

Russia’s Deputy Chief of Operations at the General Staff, Andrei Tretyak, discussed military development issues at the Valdai Club’s Defense and Security section meeting in Moscow on Friday, the Defense Ministry’s press and information service told RIA Novosti.

Combining the efforts of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and NATO would be a more efficient cooperation tool than the separate efforts of the U.S. and NATO on the one hand, and separate states, on the other, Alexander Sharavin, director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis, said on Friday. He was speaking at the Valdai Club’s Defense and Security section meeting arranged by RIA Novosti, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy (CFDP) and the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technology.

On Thursday, in an unprecedented move, a group of foreigners were given a tour of Don-2N, a major anti-ballistic missile (ABM) and space vehicle tracking radar system near Moscow, said Defense Ministry Space Command spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin.

Russia and NATO should focus their efforts on creating a European missile shield and developing a common information exchange system, and work should start immediately, said Oksana Antonenko, Senior Fellow and Program Director for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

The inaugural session of the Defense and Security Section of the Valdai International Discussion Club titled “Modernization of Russia’s Armed Forces and Cooperation in International Security” was held in Moscow on May 25-27, 2011.

One of the most important aspects of the thoroughgoing modernization of the Russian armed forces is that the government elite fully supports the actions of the Defense Ministry for the first time in post-Soviet history.

The first Defense and Security section meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, to be held in Moscow on May 25-27, will focus on the modernization of Russia’s Armed Forces and cooperation in international security. The meeting was co-organized by RIA Novosti, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technology.