POLISH-RUSSIAN DEFENSE TRADE AGREEMENT.

One day after a series of agreements were concluded by their respective defense ministers on bilateral military cooperation, Warsaw and Moscow yesterday signed a separate agreement on arms deliveries, military technology, and the provision of defense-related services. Concluded in Warsaw by Polish trade minister Jacek Buchacz and his Russian counterpart Oleg Davydov, the deal should provide Poland with urgently needed spare parts for an army that still depends on Soviet and Russian weaponry. Earlier talks had reportedly stumbled on disagreements over Poland’s own export of Russian-designed arms to third countries. Buchacz said that such Polish exports would henceforth be spelled out in each contract signed with Russia. Polish defense minister Stanislaw Dobrzanski told reporters that the agreement would guarantee a supply of Russian spare parts even after Poland’s entry into NATO. (Reuter & UPI, April 4) His Russian counterpart had been quoted yesterday as saying Moscow might revise military and military-technical contacts with Poland if Warsaw joins the Western alliance. (See Monitor, April 4)

Buchacz and Davydov, meeting under the auspices of a joint Polish-Russian commission on economic cooperation, also signed a protocol yesterday aimed at liberalizing and boosting general bilateral trade. The talks took place on the eve of a planned April 9-11 visit to Russia by Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said the agenda for the visit included political, economic, and humanitarian cooperation, as well as discussions on European security. (Interfax, April 4)

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