The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia anxious about military action against Iran near its border

03/04/2007 18:25 MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is concerned about a possible attack on Iran and insists that military action near its border is totally unacceptable, the first deputy foreign minister said Tuesday. Russia, which is separated from Iran in the south by three tiny South Caucasus nations and shares a sea border with the Islamic Republic, has been actively promoting a diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue.

"Any military action near our border is totally unacceptable," Andrei Denisov said. "We are strongly against it and we are doing our best to prevent it from happening."

Media reports in late March said Washington was preparing to strike at Iran in early April but Denisov denied the information.

"Our partners say movement of military structures in the Persian Gulf is part of a planned rotation," the diplomat said. Yury Baluyevsky, the head of the Russian General Staff, warned Washington earlier Tuesday that it should think twice before launching a military campaign against Tehran as it would have global implications.

"Our strategic partners have already got bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.

The U.S. Administration sees Iran as a "rogue state" and is determined to stop the Islamic Republic, diplomatically or otherwise, from obtaining nuclear weapons. Washington now plans to deploy a missile defense shield in Central Europe allegedly to protect itself from potential missile strikes from Iran or North Korea. The UN Security Council passed a new resolution on Iran March 24 toughening economic sanctions against the country suspected of a covert nuclear program. Russia, which is building a $1-billion nuclear power plant in Iran, has resisted any strict sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

News Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070403/63027715.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Senior Russian general warns Washington to think twice before attacking Iran


Yury Baluyevsky

MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Washington needs to think twice before launching a military campaign against Tehran as such an attack would have global implications, a senior Russian military official said Tuesday. Yury Baluyevsky, the head of the armed forces' General Staff, said: "Inflicting damage on Iran's military and industrial potential might be realistic, but winning [the war] is unachievable - its reverberations would be heard across the world." Baluyevsky said that when making a decision on Iran, U.S. leaders should bear in mind the negative experience in other countries of the region.

"Our strategic partners have already got bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said. He warned that if the U.S. goes to war with Iran as well, the world may see America decline as the world's "mightiest and most powerful state."

The U.S. Administration sees Iran as a "rogue state" belonging to what President George W. Bush has termed "an axis of evil," and is determined to stop the Islamic Republic - diplomatically or otherwise - from obtaining a nuclear weapon. It now plans to deploy a national missile defense shield in Central Europe, which it says will help protect its own security and that of its European allies against potential missile strikes from Iran, suspected by the West of pursuing a covert nuclear weapons program.

News Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070403/63006593.html

Russia anxious about military action against Iran near its border

03/04/2007 18:25 MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is concerned about a possible attack on Iran and insists that military action near its border is totally unacceptable, the first deputy foreign minister said Tuesday. Russia, which is separated from Iran in the south by three tiny South Caucasus nations and shares a sea border with the Islamic Republic, has been actively promoting a diplomatic solution to the Iranian issue.

"Any military action near our border is totally unacceptable," Andrei Denisov said. "We are strongly against it and we are doing our best to prevent it from happening."

Media reports in late March said Washington was preparing to strike at Iran in early April but Denisov denied the information.

"Our partners say movement of military structures in the Persian Gulf is part of a planned rotation," the diplomat said. Yury Baluyevsky, the head of the Russian General Staff, warned Washington earlier Tuesday that it should think twice before launching a military campaign against Tehran as it would have global implications.

"Our strategic partners have already got bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.

The U.S. Administration sees Iran as a "rogue state" and is determined to stop the Islamic Republic, diplomatically or otherwise, from obtaining nuclear weapons. Washington now plans to deploy a missile defense shield in Central Europe allegedly to protect itself from potential missile strikes from Iran or North Korea. The UN Security Council passed a new resolution on Iran March 24 toughening economic sanctions against the country suspected of a covert nuclear program. Russia, which is building a $1-billion nuclear power plant in Iran, has resisted any strict sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

News Source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070403/63027715.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations



"One of Russia’s priorities – relations with Armenia - Lavrov"

Russia Signals Opposition To Regime Change In Armenia

Russia signaled on Tuesday its opposition to regime change in Yerevan, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointedly declining to deny speculation that Moscow supports Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s apparent plans to become Armenia’s next president. Lavrov, in Yerevan on a two-day official visit, stressed the need for continuity in policies pursued by the current Armenian leadership. During a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian he was asked to comment on growing assertions by Russian media and prominent analysts that the widely anticipated handover of power from President Robert Kocharian to Sarkisian suits the Kremlin.

“The official position of Russia coincides with the unofficial position of Russia,” Lavrov replied. “We are sincerely interested in seeing Armenia stable and prosperous and seeing it continue to move down the path of reforms. As far as we can see, the results [of those reforms] are already felt in the socioeconomic sphere.”

“So we wish Armenia success in this endeavor,” he added. “We want the next phase of the constitutional process to lead to the creation of conditions for a continued movement in that direction.”

Kocharian is thought to have enjoyed Russian backing throughout his nearly decade-long presidency. Both he and Sarkisian stand for Armenia’s continued military alliance with Russia, while seeking closer security ties with the West. The Kocharian administration has also helped to significantly boosted Russia’s economic presence in the country in recent years. The Russian minister’s visit to Armenia was officially dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two former Soviet republics. The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was high on the agenda of his talks with Oskanian. Russia co-heads the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe together with the United States and France.

Oskanian told reporters that he and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov will again later this month or early next in a fresh attempt to narrow the conflicting parties’ differences over the Minsk Group’s existing peace proposals. “The goal is to continue to work on the document and to prepare for the likely meeting of the presidents [of Armenia and Azerbaijan] in June,” he said. The international mediators hope that the Armenian-Azerbaijani summit will yield a breakthrough. Lavrov said that Karabakh peace is facilitated by what he described as the absence of any differences on the issue between the three mediating powers. “This is probably the only conflict where the interests of Russia, the United States, and the European Union absolutely do not contradict each other and the interests of the conflicting parties themselves,” he said.

Lavrov further assured journalists that his country is trying hard to ease Armenia’s geographic isolation which has been aggravated by the continuing Russian transport blockade of neighboring Georgia. He pointed to the upcoming launch of a rail ferry service between the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti and Russia’s Port-Kavkaz. The ferry link will be primarily used by Armenian exporters and importers.

One of Russia’s priorities – relations with Armenia - Lavrov

YEREVAN, April 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday relations with Armenia is one of Russia’s priorities.

“We believe that stability in the Caucasus depends in many respects on Armenia’s situation,” he told a meeting with students and professors of the Yerevan State University.

“It is possible to ensure such stability not by means of creating a certain bloc, but by means of joint efforts,” he said.

“Within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization we do not try to fence off ourselves from others or work against anyone,” he said. The Collective Security Treaty Organization is “aimed at stability, counteraction to terrorism and drugs trafficking and open cooperation with the countries interested in resolving these tasks,” Lavrov said. He pointed out that Russia is interested in calm on its borders, stable development of neighbouring countries and “mutually advantageous and equal cooperation with them proceeding from the interests of our economies and our countries.”

News source: http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2....2515&PageNum=0

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations



Russia Takes Sides in Armenian Elections

Campaigning for elections to the national assembly officially started yesterday in Armenia. The elections will be on May 12. They are considered a practice run for next year's presidential race. Armenian authorities have begun early with a hard push for the ruling Republican Party, headed by Prime Minister Serge Sarkasyan. Russian officials have also thrown their weight behind the party.

There are 1314 candidates from 24 parties and blocs competing for 131 seats in the Armenian parliament. The surge of enthusiasm is due to the fact that Armenian President Robert Kocharyan's term ends next year, and everyone in the parliament will then have a shot at the presidency.

The Republican Party is headed by former defense minister and current prime minister of Armenia Serge Sarkasyan. He took over as prime minister after the death of Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan from a heart attack on March 25 and quickly drew attention to himself as a potential successor to Kocharyan. Sarkasyan has received the personal endorsement of the president and members of his administration.

Of the 14 parties competing for seat in the parliament, only six are expected to succeed – the Republican Party, Prosperous Armenia, Dashnaktsutyun Armenian Revolutionary Federation, the Country of Legality, National Unity and the People's Party, predicted presidential adviser Garnik Isagulyan. Prosperous Armenia is led by Gagik Tsarukyan, the richest person in Armenia and chairman of the national Olympic Committee. Analysts consider it a creation of the authorities as a backup incase of a setback to the Republican Party.

So far, there are no setbacks on the horizon for the Republican Party. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was in Armenia last week and expressed the Russian government's support for Sarkasyan. Russia traditionally plays an important role in the internal affairs of Armenia. Several other Russian officials have voiced support for Sarkasyan since then, including Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and head of the Audit Chamber Sergey Stepashin.

News source: www.kommersant.com

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Russia threatening new cold war over missile defence



Kremlin accuses US of deception on east European interceptor bases

Russia is preparing its own military response to the US's controversial plans to build a new missile defence system in eastern Europe, according to Kremlin officials, in a move likely to increase fears of a cold war-style arms race. The Kremlin is considering active counter-measures in response to Washington's decision to base interceptor missiles and radar installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, a move Russia says will change "the world's strategic stability".

The Kremlin has not publicly spelt out its plans. But defence experts said its response is likely to include upgrading its nuclear missile arsenal so that it is harder to shoot down, putting more missiles on mobile launchers, and moving its fleet of nuclear submarines to the north pole, where they are virtually undetectable.

Russia could also bring the new US silos within the range of its Iskander missiles launched potentially from the nearby Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, they add. In an interview with the Guardian, the Kremlin's chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow felt betrayed by the Pentagon's move. "We were extremely concerned and disappointed. We were never informed in advance about these plans. It brings tremendous change to the strategic balance in Europe, and to the world's strategic stability."

He added: "We feel ourselves deceived. Potentially we will have to create alternatives to this but with low cost and higher efficiency." Any response would be within "existing technologies", he said. As well as military counter-measures, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, also wanted "dialogue" and "negotiations", he added.

The Bush administration says the bases are designed to shoot down rogue missiles fired by Iran or North Korea. Its proposed system would be helpless against Russia's vast nuclear arsenal, it says. But this claim has been greeted with widespread incredulity, not just in Russia but also among some of the US's nervous Nato allies. They include Germany, where the Social Democrat leader, Kurt Beck, warned last month that the US and Russia were on the brink of another arms race "on European soil".

Defence experts say there is little doubt that the real target of the shield is Russia. "The geography of the deployment doesn't give any doubt the main targets are Russian and Chinese nuclear forces," General Vladimir Belous, Russia's leading expert on anti-ballistic weaponry, told the Guardian. "The US bases represent a real threat to our strategic nuclear forces."

The threat of a new arms race comes at a time when relations between Russia and the US are at their worst for a decade. In February Mr Putin accused the Bush administration during a speech in Munich of seeking a "world of one master, one sovereign". On Friday Russia's duma, or lower house or parliament, warned that the US's plans could ignite a second cold war. "Such decisions, which are useless in terms of preventing potential or imaginary threats from countries of the middle and far-east, are already bringing about a new split in Europe and unleashing another arms race," the declaration - passed unanimously by Russian MPs - said.

The same day Russia ruled out cooperating with the US over the shield. "Despite certain signals received in recent days from the US side ... I see no political foundation for it," said Sergei Ryabkov, a foreign ministry spokesman. Moscow now had little choice but to take the bases "into account in our strategic planning", he said.

Analysts said there was a common feeling in Russia that the US had reneged on an agreement after the collapse of the Soviet Union to abandon cold war politics. "Cold war thinking has prevailed, especially on the western side," Yevgeny Myasnikov, a senior research scientist at Moscow's Centre for Arms Control, told the Guardian. "Russia has been deeply disappointed by what has happened after 1991. Nato started to expand, and the US started to think it had won the cold war. We had hoped for a partnership. But it didn't happen."

News source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/art...054142,00.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

War with Iran would be catastrophic - Ivanov



11/04/2007 11:36 YEREVAN, April 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's first deputy prime minister said Wednesday a war against Iran would lead to a catastrophe. The Islamic Republic is under UN sanctions over failure to halt uranium enrichment, and Washington has refused to rule out a military operation against Iran as a way of forcing its compliance with the demands of the global community, which fears Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons.

"The Iranian problem needs to be resolved in a political and diplomatic way, as a threat of war is a road to nowhere, or to a catastrophe," Sergei Ivanov, Russia's former defense minister, said in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. The United States has reportedly been building up its Air Force and Navy contingent near the oil-rich Middle East nation, while Russian military officials have suggested that the U.S. could launch strikes on Iran's underground nuclear sites.

The latest United Nations resolution on the defiant regime highlights a focus on diplomacy, but accepts the possibility of a military solution to the crisis. Ivanov admitted Tehran's "nuclear dossier" was controversial, but said the nation had the right to pursue civilian nuclear energy. He said uranium enrichment activities should be controlled by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

He said Russia, which is building Iran's first nuclear power plant, has offered to provide the Islamic Republic with nuclear fuel for electricity generation and to accept spent fuel back for reprocessing. Tehran has neither accepted nor rejected the proposal. Iran, which insists its nuclear program is peaceful, said Monday it had begun producing nuclear fuel on an industrial scale, and reiterated plans to continue enlarging its nuclear fuel production capacity. Russia said it considered to announcement doubtful, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying the claim was still unsubstantiated.

News source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070411/63453060.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

There has been allot of Russian military and diplomatic activity lately, perhaps in anticipation of an American attack on Iran:

Russia to launch new nuclear submarine Sunday - Ivanov



09/04/2007 15:43 MOSCOW, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - A fourth-generation strategic nuclear submarine will be launched during a special ceremony at a shipbuilding yard in northern Russia Sunday, a first deputy prime minister said Monday. The Yury Dolgoruky, a Borey-class nuclear missile submarine, was built at the Sevmash plant in the northern Arkhangelsk Region. It will be equipped with the Bulava ballistic missile, which is adapted from the Topol-M (SS-27).

Sergei Ivanov said at a government meeting that the submarine will undergo sea trials in 2007 and will be fully equipped with weaponry in 2008. After that, it will be commissioned by the Russian Navy. The submarine has a length of 170 meters (580 feet), a body diameter around 13 meters (42 feet), and a submerged speed of about 29 knots. It can carry up to 16 ballistic missiles.

Two other Borey-class nuclear submarines, the Alexander Nevsky and the Vladimir Monomakh, are currently under construction at the Sevmash plant, with a fourth submarine on the future production schedule list. President Vladimir Putin said in March last year that Russia's submarine fleet is a major component of Russia's defense policy, and that fourth-generation submarines armed with Bulava missiles would form the core of an entire fleet of modern submarines.

News source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070409/63353403.html

3rd serial Su-34 fighter-bomber to take to the skies in November



06/03/2007 13:57 NOVOSIBIRSK (Siberia), March 6 (RIA Novosti) - The third serial-production Su-34 Fullback fighter-bomber will make its maiden flight in November 2007, the manufacturer said Tuesday. Designed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau, the Su-34s will replace the Su-24 Fencer frontline bombers. Experts said the new bomber has the potential to become the best plane in its class for years to come.

"We are working on three Su-34 aircraft at present and one of them is almost ready for delivery," said Fyodor Zhdanov, general director of the Chkalov Aircraft Production Association in Novosibirsk, in West Siberia.

"The third serial aircraft is expected to take to the skies in November this year," the official said. Russia's Air Force received its first two Su-34 fighter-bombers last December. The $36 million Su-34 fighter-bomber is a two-seat strike aircraft equipped with twin AL-31MF afterburning turbojet engines. It is designed to deliver high-precision strikes on heavily defended targets in any weather conditions, day or night, and fields weaponry that includes a 30mm GSh-301 cannon, up to 12 Alamo or Archer AAMs, ASMs, and bombs

Air Force Commander Vladimir Mikhailov said Tuesday that Russia will need about 200 Su-34s, to be on active duty in the next 30-40 years along with modernized Su-24s, which are expected to be gradually replaced over the next 20 years. Mikhailov said the Air Force is planning to buy six Su-34s in 2007 and continue purchasing 10 new aircraft every year starting in 2008. Speaking about the future projects, Zhdanov said that the Chkalov plant will also participate in the manufacture of Russia's fifth-generation multi-role fighter designed by the Sukhoi Bureau.

"The final assembly of the aircraft will be made in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, but we will be responsible for assembling the xxxxpit [for the new planes]," the official said. Russia has been working on the design of a new advanced fighter, which is supposed to replace the existing fleet of MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-27 Flanker aircraft, for the last three years, and its first test flights are expected to start in 2009.

News source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070306/61627961.html

Russia starts Pacific naval exercise



26/03/2007 12:48 VLADIVOSTOK, March 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has begun a scheduled naval exercise in the Sea of Japan, the Pacific Fleet press service said Monday. A major naval force, Russia's Pacific Fleet has strategic underwater missile cruisers, multipurpose nuclear and diesel submarines, surface ships for operations in the coastal and open-sea zones. The Pacific Fleet also has maritime missile-carrying, antisubmarine and fighter aviation, land troops and coastal guards.

"The exercise, which marks the end of winter combat training, will feature missile and artillery firing, and the search and destruction of submarines," a press service spokesperson said. Over 15 combat and auxiliary vessels, shore and deck-based aircraft of the Primorye Territory in the Far East will participate in the exercise. Aircraft crews will practice take-off and landing on the decks of submarine chasers in day and night conditions, while submarine crews will conduct torpedo launches.

News source: http://img.rian.ru/images/5691/08/56910830.jpg

Russian bombers could suppress U.S. missile shield - general



05/03/2007 13:05 MOSCOW, March 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's strategic aviation has sufficient potential to suppress elements of a U.S. missile defense shield should it be deployed in Central Europe, the commander of the Strategic Air Force said Monday.

"Missile shield elements, which are located in silos, are very vulnerable and have weak defenses," Lieutenant-General Igor Khvorov said. "Therefore, all aircraft deployed by [Russian] strategic aviation can either apply electronic counter-measures against them or physically destroy them."

Russia, which has been anxious about NATO bases that have appeared in former Communist-bloc countries and ex-Soviet republics, has blasted U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile systems in Central Europe as a national security threat and a destabilizing factor for Europe. Washington said the defenses would be designed to counter possible strikes from North Korea and Iran, which are involved in long-running disputes with the international community over their nuclear programs.

General Pyotr Deinekin, a former Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, said the deployment of U.S. missile shield elements in Eastern Europe "enables Americans to considerably expand their possibilities from the point of view of reconnaissance and the elimination of Russian missiles in the initial stage of their flight trajectory."

"We should now expect the deployment of their intermediate and short-range missiles in the former countries of the Warsaw Pact, including in the Baltic States," Deinekin said. In that situation, Deinekin said, the Russian General Staff should calmly take adequate measures not only to contain, but to actively eliminate those facilities as well, including with the use of Strategic Air Force aviation assets.

News source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20070305/61569829.html

Russia's strategic aviation conducts tactical exercises

19/03/2007 13:24 MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russian strategic aviation has successfully completed five-day tactical exercises practicing interoperability with air force and air defense units, the Air Force commander said Monday.

"During the five-day exercises the crews of the strategic aviation have practiced interoperability with units of three air force and air defense commands," Army General Vladimir Mikhailov said. Bomber and fighter crews rehearsed penetration of air defenses, specifics of flights in the extreme North and in-flight refueling, the general said.

Russia, which has been anxious about NATO bases that have appeared in former Communist-bloc countries and ex-Soviet republics, has also blasted the U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile systems in central Europe as a national security threat and a destabilizing factor for the region. Commander of the 37th Air Army Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov, who supervised the exercises, said on March 5 that Russia's strategic aviation has sufficient potential to suppress elements of a U.S. missile defense shield should it be deployed in central Europe.

"Missile shield elements, which are located in silos, are very vulnerable and have weak defenses," Khvorov said. "Therefore, all aircraft deployed by [Russian] strategic aviation can either apply electronic counter-measures against them or physically destroy them."

News source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070319/62209650.html

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Fugitive oligarch] Russia billionaire says planning revolution



LONDON - Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky said he is planning a revolution in Russia to topple President Vladimir Putin, in comments published on Friday. "We need to use force to change this regime," Berezovsky, who has received asylum in Britain, told the Guardian newspaper.

"It isn't possible to change this regime through democratic means. There can be no change without force, pressure."

Asked if he was fomenting a revolution, he said: "You are absolutely correct."

Berezovsky, a vocal critic of Putin, said he was in contact with members of Russia's political elite. He said these people -- who he did not name because, he said, that would endanger their lives -- shared his opinion that Putin was eroding democratic reforms, centralizing power and infringing Russia's constitution, according to the Guardian.

"There is no chance of regime change through democratic elections," Berezovsky said.

"If one part of the political elite disagrees with another part of the political elite -- that is the only way in Russia to change the regime. I try to move that."

The businessman said he was offering his "experience and ideology" to his contacts, adding: "There are also practical steps which I am doing now, and mostly it is financial."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the comments as a criminal offence and hoped they would prompt questions about Berezovsky's refugee status in Britain, the Guardian said.

"In accordance with our legislation (his remarks are) being treated as a crime. It will cause some questions from the British authorities to Mr Berezovsky," Peskov was quoted as saying. "We want to believe that official London will never grant asylum to someone who wants to use force to change the regime in Russia."

Last month, Berezovsky met Russian investigators in London to answer questions over the killing of ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko. He has also launched a $500,000 foundation in honor of Litvinenko who was poisoned and died in London last November.

News source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2...ent_849906.htm

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Moscow Signals Support for Armenian Power Handover

Tycoon Rules Out ‘Revolution’ In Armenia



Attempts to stage an anti-government popular revolt in Armenia are doomed to fail because they would meet with a tough response from President Robert Kocharian, according to his most trusted oligarch who looks set to do well in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Gagik Tsarukian interrupted the election campaign of his Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) to visit Moscow late last week. No details of the trip were made public by his aides in Yerevan. RFE/RL learned on Monday that Tsarukian met with officials from President Vladimir Putin’s administration and two senior members of Russia’s parliament close to the Kremlin. It also emerged that he was interviewed by a little-known Russian television station, commenting on the political situation in Armenia and the future of its relations with Russia.

“We will develop 90 percent of our relations with Russia and 10 percent with Europe and others,” Tsarukian told the O2 TV channel in rare remarks on Armenian foreign policy. He declined to elaborate. The tycoon, whose party is widely seen as Kocharian’s new power base, was also asked about the Armenian opposition’s chances of replicating the kind of post-election regime change that took place in Ukraine and in Georgia to Moscow’s dismay. “Our president is very strong and is closely following the pre-election struggle,” he said. “If something happens, he will strictly punish the guilty.”

News source: http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeni...48682ADAC1.ASP

MOSCOW SIGNALS SUPPORT FOR ARMENIAN POWER HANDOVER

With less than a month to go before Armenia’s crucial parliamentary elections, Russia has signaled its support for an anticipated handover of power from Armenian President Robert Kocharian to newly appointed Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian. In a series of early April visits to Yerevan, senior Russian officials indicated Moscow’s strong opposition to regime change in the loyal South Caucasus state. The Russians also plan to send a record-high number of election observers, in an apparent bid to counter and/or water down Western criticism of the Armenian authorities’ handling of the May 12 vote.

Control of Armenia’s next parliament is essential for the success of Sarkisian’s plans to succeed Kocharian after the latter completes his second and final term in office in March 2008. His governing Republican Party (HHK) is widely regarded as the election frontrunner not so much because of its popularity as its vote-rigging capacity that manifested itself during the previous legislative polls. Talk of Sarkisian’s presidential ambitions intensified after he was named to replace Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, who died of a heart attack on March 25. Some Russian media and pro-Kremlin analysts said that Sarkisian is Moscow’s preferred candidate for the Armenian presidency.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov effectively confirmed this as he visited Yerevan on April 3. “The official position of Russia coincides with the unofficial position of Russia,” he told journalists. Lavrov stressed the need for continuity in the Kocharian administration’s policies, which he said have proved beneficial for Armenia. Russia wants to see a “continued movement in that direction,” he said. “Russia, which traditionally plays an important role in internal political processes in Armenia, has made it clear who it has sided with,” the Moscow daily Kommersant wrote on April 9.

Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov made it even clearer during a separate visit to Armenia two days later. Ivanov said he and Sarkisian had developed “not only good businesslike but also personal relations” in their previous capacity as defense ministers of the two countries. “The human capital which we developed in the past few years is very useful and allows us to discuss many issues in a straightforward and frank manner,” he said at a news conference. Sarkisian underlined the significance of Ivanov’s trip by greeting and bidding farewell to the Russian deputy prime minister at Yerevan airport, despite his higher government rank. Russian backing has helped him and Kocharian to keep the Armenian opposition at bay throughout their nearly decade-long joint rule. It will also bode well for the realization of his presidential ambitions, which seem to be approved by Kocharian. The Armenian constitution bars Kocharian from seeking a third five-year term. But he is clearly keen to remain in government in some other capacity.

The administration of President Vladimir Putin has little reason to be unhappy with Armenia’s two most powerful men. After all, they were instrumental in the signing in recent years of highly controversial agreements that have given Moscow a near total control over the Armenian energy sector. Sarkisian has personally negotiated those deals in his capacity as co-chairman of a Russian-Armenian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation. He and Kocharian have also bolstered the Russian presence in other sectors of the Armenian economy such as telecommunication. In addition, membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the continued presence of Russian troops in Armenia remain key elements of Yerevan’s national security doctrine.

All of that has more than offset Yerevan’s increased security links with the West, including the launch of an individual partnership action plan with NATO and the dispatch of Armenian troops to Kosovo and Iraq. True, the Russians have covertly sponsored some pro-Russian opposition groups in Armenia. But they seem to have done so in order to hold the Kocharian-Sarkisian duo in check, rather than to cause its downfall. Moscow appears to be disinterested in regime change in Armenia also because of its broader opposition to the democratization of the political systems of this and other former Soviet republics. Two of those states, Georgia and Ukraine, are now led by staunchly pro-Western presidents as a result of democratic revolutions sparked by rigged elections. Armenia could likewise have a less pro-Russian regime if its current leaders hold a democratic election and run the risk of losing power.

Incidentally, the first foreign visitor received by Sarkisian after his April 4 appointment as prime minister was Vladimir Rushailo, the Russian executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Rushailo arrived in Yerevan to discuss preparations for the upcoming elections. After the talks he announced that the CIS Secretariat plans to deploy some 200 election observers in Armenia, far more than it did in the past. Unlike their counterparts from the OSCE and the Council of Europe, CIS observers described the previous Armenian parliamentary and presidential elections tainted with widespread fraud as “free and fair.” Their next verdict will hardly be more negative. The drastic increase in the size of the CIS observer mission, to be headed by Rushailo, is clearly aimed at giving its statements greater credibility.

Russia also intends to seriously influence the findings of some 330 mostly Western observers that are due to monitor the Armenian elections on behalf of the OSCE. Their opinion will be key to the international legitimacy of the vote. As a leading OSCE member state, Russia can contribute up to 10% of the organization’s vote monitoring missions. As Lavrov stated in Yerevan, Moscow, which has slammed the OSCE for questioning the legitimacy of former Soviet governments, will for the first time use its participation quota in full.

Source: http://jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2372102

[Armenian]

Re: The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

Armenia, Iran, Russia To Open Talks On Oil Refinery



Government officials from Armenia, Iran and Russia will meet soon to discuss an ambitious idea to build a big oil refinery on the Armenian-Iranian border that would cater for the Iranian market.

President Robert Kocharian reportedly discussed the multimillion-dollar project with senior Russian officials during a visit to Moscow in January. A subsidiary of Russia’s state-run Gazprom gas monopoly said afterwards that it is considering investing an estimated $1.7 billion needed for the construction of the would-be refinery near the Armenian border town of Meghri. Reports in the Russian press have said the facility would have an annual capacity to refine up to 7 million tons of Iranian oil that would be pumped into Armenia through a special pipeline to be built in northwestern Iran. Petrol produced by it would then be shipped back to Iran by rail. Construction of the 200-kilometer pipeline and the railway would require hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding. Armenia and Iran have no rail links at present.

The Russian Regnum news agency quoted Armenia’s Deputy Energy Minister Areg Galstian as saying that officials from the three governments will try to “ascertain the scale of each party’s participation in the project.” Galstian did not give further details of the talks. Despite its vast oil reserves, Iran lacks refining capacities and has to import gasoline to meet domestic demand. Nonetheless, some Russian experts have questioned the economic wisdom of the project, arguing that oil refineries are usually located near sea ports or major oil pipelines. They see political motives behind the idea of building such a facility in landlocked Armenia.

Source: http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeni...EC752D9973.ASP