"The (NATO) alliance welcomes any measures stepping up regional cooperation, be it within the Partnership for Peace program or outside it," said Admiral Raine Faist, deputy chief commander of NATO forces in Europe.

The joint command was announced after a summit of leaders of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which make up the Collective Security Treaty Organization (DKB).

The DKB was set up in 1992 to boost cooperation on shared security threats such as terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime.

The leaders also said Monday that they would set up a system to facilitate arms sales between member countries.

The doctrine behind the DKB is similar to that of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was founded to counter the growing Soviet threat in Europe after World War II.

Faist, who met with Armenia's President Robert Kocharyan, Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, also hailed Armenia's efforts in cooperating with NATO.

During his talks with Armenian officials, Faist also discussed military exercises planned for June, as part of a series of NATO exercises dubbed "Cooperative Best Effort 2002".

Faist said 17 NATO member states and partners of the alliance, including Russia, Georgia and Ukraine, would take part in the exercises.

SPACE.WIRE