Argentina 'Considers Russia a Partner in Military and Technical Cooperation'

Argentina will keep partnership with Moscow in the military and technical field despite the its leadership change, a Russian official told Sputnik.

LIMA (Sputnik) — The Argentinian side has confirmed that the country's military and technical cooperation with Russia will not be affected by the government change in the Latin American state that took place in 2015, the deputy director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) told Sputnik in an interview.

"I would like to stress that our Argentinian partners said during the talks that despite the power shift in Argentina, the country's political leadership considers Russia as partner in such a sensitive sphere as military and technical cooperation," Anatoly Punchuk said speaking about the outcome of the April session of the Intergovernmental Russian-Argentinian Commission on Military and Technical Cooperation.

The official added that the sides had also discussed the cooperation in the issues related to helicopters and naval equipment during the April talks.

In November 2015, center-right Mauricio Macri won the presidential election in Argentina. Macri's victory put an end to the 12-year period, when the country was ruled by left-wing Nestor Kirchner in 2003-2007 and by his wife Cristina Kirchner in 2007-2015. Macri has repeatedly said that the policy of his predecessors resulted in Argentina's isolation from the Western countries and promised to improve the relations of Buenos-Aires with the United States and the European Union.