Russia to show its bomb detection technologies

Russia will showcase its explosives detection technologies at an offsite session of the Russia-NATO council to be held in Sochi on Monday, Russia's envoy to the alliance said. Russia and NATO are partners in the STANDEX (Stand-off Explosive Detection) program, aimed at identifying and recognizing explosives on a suicide bomber or on a movable object in urban transport. "We would showcase devices which are Russia's contribution to the STANDEX project, which has been developed for several years within the framework of the Russia-NATO council," Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said. The NATO-Russia Council was established in 2002. It provides bilateral cooperation and consultations on current security problems, including the fight against terrorism, Afghanistan cooperation, missile defense, and non-proliferation of weapons. A personal meeting of the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to take place during Monday's session. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak will report on Russia's preparations to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is to speak on Euro-Atlantic security, while Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov will report on reforms in the Russian armed forces. The Sochi meeting is to focus on the European missile shield cooperation, which Russia and NATO agreed to develop during the NATO-Russia Council summit in Lisbon in November 2010. The civil conflict in Libya is also expected to be high on the meeting's agenda.