Iran, Russia sign MoU to increase security cooperation

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Alexandrovich Kolokoltsev signed the MoU during a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday. 
 
Heading a political delegation, Kolokoltsev arrived in the Iranian capital on Monday for a two-day official visit upon the invitation of the Iranian interior minister. 
 
“The signing of the security MoU is a cornerstone in the expansion of cooperation between the two countries,” Mohammad-Najjar said. 
 
The Iranian interior minister added that the good relations between Iran and Russia require that Tehran and Moscow cooperate to provide security for the region.
 
“Training police forces and providing security in the region were among the main issues of the talks [in Tehran],” Mohammad-Najjar said, adding that various other issues such as the Caspian Sea, fighting organized crimes, and human and drug trafficking had also been discussed in the meeting. 
 
Kolokoltsev’s visit is the first to Iran by a Russian minister of internal affairs since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. 
 
The Iranian interior minister visited Russia at the invitation of his Russian counterpart in January 2012 and held talks with former Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev and Russia's Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Ivanov.