Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 18 /Trend/
Tajikistan and Russia discussed the current relationship and the prospects of further expansion of bilateral military and technical cooperation between two countries, Asia-Plus reported referring to a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan Faridoun Mahmadaliyev.
These issues were discussed during the meeting of Tajikistan's Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloyev with his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov in Almaty (Kazakhstan) on the sidelines of the 61st meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS Member Nations.
With regard to the case of Russian pilot Vladimir Sadovnichiy Khairulloyev said that this issue is under personal control of the president of Tajikistan.
The two pilots were detained by Tajikistan's security service in March after landing at Tajik Kurgan-Tyube airfield with two An-72 transport aircrafts, one of which was carrying a spare engine described by the court as a "smuggled engine."
The sentence on the pilots was announced on Nov. 8 and was called "extremely severe and politically motivated" by Moscow.
Khairulloyev also held bilateral talks with his counterparts from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan on further expansion of military and technical cooperation.
Edited by: A.Badalova