Translated material
Door to the European Union
The Presidents of Russia and Slovakia agreed on cooperation
Russia hopes for a quick solution to the issue of a visa-free regime with the EU, President Dmitry Medvedev said yesterday in Bratislava following negotiations with his Slovak counterpart Ivan Gasparovic. In turn, the President of Slovakia said that his country “is a very open and comfortable door for Russia to the European Union.” “I told Mr. President that we are ready to actively enter this door,” Mr. Medvedev said in response. “In this regard, there are prospects not only for bilateral cooperation, but also for cooperation in third countries, which, in my opinion, also always brings us closer together, especially since Russia is currently in the process of preparing a new agreement with the EU.”“The EU countries will come to a consensus on visa-free travel with Russia, just as they did in relation to a number of Eastern European countries,” Mr. Gasparovic assured.
President Medvedev's current visit to Slovakia turned out to be very productive: Russia and Slovakia entered into nine cooperation agreements. Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov and Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Baska signed an Intergovernmental Agreement on the mutual protection of rights to the results of intellectual activity used and obtained in the course of bilateral military-technical cooperation. Director of the Russian Federal Service for Drug Control Viktor Ivanov and Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Slovakia Robert Kalinjak signed an Agreement on cooperation in the fight against illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors. The director of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Romodanovsky, and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Robert Kalinyak, signed an executive protocol between the governments on the procedure for implementing the Agreement between Russia and the European Union on readmission of May 25, 2006.
Co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation Sergei Shmatko (Minister of Energy of Russia) and Lubomir Jagnatek (Minister of Economy of Slovakia) signed two memorandums: on mutual understanding on the creation of a joint research enterprise “Cyclotron Center” in Slovakia and on mutual understanding between the Ministry of Energy Russia and the Ministry of Economy of Slovakia on cooperation in the gas sector.
Four more documents were signed by companies from two countries. Thus, Russian Railways and Tatravagonka intend to conduct scientific and technical cooperation, and also entered into an agreement to create conditions for organizing a joint venture for the design and production of freight cars. TVEL and Slovak Power Plants signed a framework contract for the supply of nuclear fuel for the third and fourth units of the Mochovce NPP and the provision of related services.
On the eve of the 65th anniversary of the Victory, the topic of the Second World War became one of the key topics during negotiations between the presidents of the two countries. Dmitry Medvedev gave Ivan Gasparovic copies of 85 documents from Russian archival funds relating to the joint struggle during the Second World War, including the deployment of anti-fascist resistance and partisan movement in Slovakia against the backdrop of the Red Army's offensive in the Carpathians. In particular, the Slovak side received letters from Slovak prisoners of war who voluntarily went over to the side of the Red Army, with a request to enroll them in the ranks of the emerging Czechoslovak army to fight fascism, as well as a copy of the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated December 21, 1943 on conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union officers of the 1st separate Order of Suvorov II degree of the Czechoslovak brigade in the USSR.
In addition, the presidents of Russia and Slovakia awarded six veterans who participated in the liberation of Slovakia from fascism.
“It gives us all, representatives of the Russian delegation, special joy that this visit is not taking place for any other reason, but in the context of celebrating the liberation of Bratislava from the Nazis,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at a press conference in Bratislava. We really consider this our joint victory. And we are ready to do everything so that the memory of these days will forever remain in the memory of our peoples and be the source of our friendship and good relations. If the victory had not been achieved at such a high cost, Europe would have been different." , said the Russian President.