15 May 2019 16:20

Patrushev discusses threats coming from Afghanistan with secretaries of Uzbek, Tajik Security Councils

BISHKEK. May 15 (Interfax) - Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev met with colleagues from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in Bishkek on Wednesday to discuss security cooperation, Russian Security Council press secretary Yevgeny Anoshin told journalists.

"Nikolai Patrushev has met with Uzbek Security Council Secretary Viktor Makhmudov to discuss current issues in Russian-Uzbek relations and multifaceted cooperation on international and regional platforms. They underlined the successful implementation of the plan of cooperation between the Russian and Uzbek Security Councils in 2018-2019," Anoshin said.

Meanwhile, Patrushev discussed various aspects of Russian-Tajik cooperation with Tajik Security Council Secretary Mahmadali Vatanzoda. "Similar positions of the two countries on key global and regional affairs were underlined. The parties highlighted interaction amid the complicated situation in Central Asia created by threats coming from the territory of Afghanistan," Anoshin said.

Patrushev, Makhmudov, and Vatanzoda took part in the 14th annual meeting of Security Council secretaries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in Bishkek on Wednesday. The meeting addressed security and stability levels in the SCO zone, and improvement of SCO mechanisms of cooperation in the suppression of terrorism, extremism, separatism, drug and arms trafficking, and transnational organized crime, as well as in the provision of global information security.