The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[ayrudzi]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Sorry to derail the thread but there is this blog http://theriseofrussia.blogspot.com/ its by a guy that I think used to post on this site. He takes a very pro russia stance on all things including matters which pertain to Armenia. I dont have a problem with his pro russia stance I personaly am just pro Armenian and who or whatever benefits us is who I will go with. However he starts talking about things like it is in our genetics and culture to not be able to have a state, that we need russia to protect us and basically puts down Armenian army and people and looks at Russia as a savior almost feels like his worshiping them. What are the thoughts of people on this forum about that blog site I put the link to and the guy that writes it

[Haykakan]

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

Russian military hold "sniper duels" in Armenia

Thursday 31 July 2014 14:30
Photo: Photolure


Yerevan /Mediamax/. The rifle division of the Russian military base
has launched three-day special training on the new method of "tactical
sniper duel" in Armenia.

The special course is held in Kamhud high-mountain training and
educational complex.

During the trainings, the crew will be introduced to the situation and
will be divided into two groups. One of the groups will act as the
rival's subversive group and the other one as the sniper group. Both
groups will have to learn to choose positions for fire damage, to
camouflage in high-altitude mountain landscapes and hot climate, as
well as to start precision fire at detected targets.

http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/armypolice/11114/

[Hakob]

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

We have ethnic Armenian Cossack society formed in Armenia, that is in close relationship with Russian Cossacks. There are their leaders, called atamans, who are given the title by popular vote. At peace times are acting as organizers and mediators of conflicts between Cossacks. In war times they become field commanders. Their culture reminds me of Vikings. Since Russian culture was created in part by Vikings, who knows...

[Haykakan]

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

Good read here for those who were wondering who Cossacks are.


ATTRITION: SENDING IN THE COSSACKS

Strategy Page
May 7 2014

May 7, 2014: Russia is suffering a major ethnic shift in the Caucasus.

Russians and other people not native to the Caucasus are being driven
out of the region by terrorism, corruption, and a bad attitude towards
outsiders. It's been worse in Chechnya, where Russians comprised 25
percent of the population in 1989, but only two percent today. The
decline has not been as great in the rest of the Caucasus, but it has
been massive, with more than half the Russian residents having left in
the last twenty years. That's over half a million Russians. Actually,
this trend began in the 1950s, right after tyrant Josef Stalin died in
1953 and Russia began to trim the power of the secret police to keep
the peace in the Caucasus. The departure of ethnic Russians from the
Caucasus simply accelerated after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Russia had, over the last two centuries, encouraged ethnic Russians to
settle in the Caucasus in order to help maintain Russian control of
an often-hostile native population. With the collapse of the empire
(the Soviet Union) in 1991 there was no money left to subsidize the
ethnic Russians in the Caucasus. That, as much as the anti-Russian
attitudes of the natives, prompted most Russians to leave. Now the
Russian government is using an old solution to get more ethnic Russians
back into the Caucasus; it's sending in the Cossacks.

The Cossack people are ethnic Russians with a distinct language and
culture (not Russian) and strong ties to the Russian Orthodox Church.

There are about seven million Cossacks in Russia, Ukraine, and other
portions of the former Soviet Union. Their involvement in Russian
wars goes back centuries. During Tsarist times, Cossacks formed
special cavalry units in the Imperial Russian Army, as well serving
as instruments of state repression. The Russian Empire had a special
arrangement with the Cossacks whereby, in exchange for frontier land,
greater political autonomy, and special social status, Cossacks
contributed military forces to the Tsar, providing their own horses,
weapons, and equipment. Unique, exclusively Cossack military formations
have been a staple of Russian history in one way or another for many,
many centuries. Cossacks were notorious for their willingness to do
the czar's dirty work, especially in the Caucasus.

Opinions on the actual military value of Cossack units is widely
divided, as are opinions of the Cossacks themselves. At many points
in Russian military history, the Cossacks have proven themselves to
be determined and fierce, sometimes to the point of recklessness,
warriors, and there are examples of entire Cossack units fighting
to the death against impossible odds. During the Napoleonic Wars
and the French invasion of Russia in 1812, Cossack units, mostly
light cavalry, operated extremely effectively as scouts and raiders,
harassing the retreating French army mercilessly. Their performance
against regular troops in open battle was less than great, but then
that wasn't their role anyway.

On the other hand, Cossack units, from the days of Peter the Great
until modern time, have a well-deserved reputation for brutality,
anti-Semitism, and looting. They have always been notoriously difficult
to control, with Russian officers in past wars becoming frustrated
and enraged with drunken, mutinous Cossack soldiers. During the
Russian Civil War, Cossacks fought for both sides, especially for the
anti-Communist White forces, but they were often divisive, unreliable,
and preoccupied with looting and general destruction.

Also, many Russians regarded them as potential rebels, given their
unruly history, large numbers, and independent-minded spirit, and
those familiar with history know that for a two century period, every
major rebellion against the Russian Empire was led by Cossack troops.

During the Soviet period, Cossacks were among the many ill-treated
minorities, having their distinct culture and language suppressed by
the Communist authorities.

Since the 1990s Cossacks are once again involved in Russian conflicts.

In an effort to bolster national pride and recover some of the distinct
Russian heritage that was suppressed during 70 years of Soviet rule
Russia has officially brought back the formation of exclusively
Cossack military units, and in a big way. This has accompanied a
general explosion of Cossack culture in recent years.

Cossack military schools have been established, where student ages
10 to 17 attend classes in army fatigues and learn military tactics
alongside regular academic subjects. An entire Kuban Cossack Army,
headquartered in Krasnodar, has been established and is incorporated
as a unique, but fully integrated, part of the Russian Army. The
Russian Minister for Cossack Affairs, Gen. Gennady Troshev (until
his death in 2009) was a Cossack himself and had been instrumental
in the remilitarization of the Cossack society.

Irregular Cossack paramilitary units fought on the Russian/separatist
side in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, which saw South Ossetia taken
from Georgia and made a de facto part of Russia. Cossack volunteers
by the hundreds mobilized during the Georgian attack of South Ossetia
and crossed the border to engage Georgian forces. Cossacks in nearby
North Ossetia apparently organized a relatively efficient and rapid
system for clothing, equipping and transporting their paramilitaries
into the breakaway province to feed them into combat. Cossack fighters
entered South Ossetia by bus, having been issued combat uniforms and
gear on the way to the border, and were issued small arms and light
weapons once they arrived at the border. Cossack volunteers formed
the second major paramilitary force in the war, the first being the
South Ossetian militias. According to reports, the Cossack forces
fought with dogged determination.

Paramilitary forces and semi-standing armies of "volunteers",
of various ethnic and political lines, are a major part of armed
conflict in Russia and the former Soviet Union, particularly among
Slavic ethnicities. Such forces exist in disputed territories between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, where a majority of ethnic Armenians live in
the unrecognized Republic of Nogorno-Karabakh. The Nogorno-Karabakh
Defense Army is the formal defense force of the Nogorno-Karabakh
Republic. Similar forces exist in both breakaway republics of South
Ossetia and Azkaban.

The new Russian policy is to encourage, with cash investments and
monthly payments to adult Cossacks willing to undergo military
training, the establishment of Cossack communities in the Caucasus.

These towns and villages would be in touch with the surrounding
non-Cossack population and able, if there were problems with the
natives, to defend themselves until Russian reinforcements showed up.

That's a strategy that is centuries old and Russia sees it as
succeeding again. The Caucasus natives have a long-standing dislike for
the Cossacks, but at the same time fear and respect them, especially
when the Cossacks are acting as paramilitary forces.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20140507.aspx

[Joseph]

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

RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN MILITARY DEAL SUBMITTED FOR PUTIN'S RATIFICATION

March 26, 2014 - 14:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian cabinet of ministers submitted an agreement
on the development of military and technical cooperation with Armenia
for presidential ratification, Novosti-Armenia said.

The agreement stipulates for establishment of cooperation in
the sectors of the development, production, operation, repair,
modernization and utilization of weaponry and military equipment,"
Russian media reported quoting the message posted on the government's
website.

Armenian parliament ratified the military cooperation agreement with
Russia December 4, 2013. In June 2013, during the visit of the Russian
Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev to Armenia, a military and
technical cooperation agreement was signed with Russia. The agreement
stipulates for each side to supply military products with the same
specifications as for one's own armed forces. The agreement also
enables the supplier to exert control over the presence of products
and their compliance with the intended use to be described in an
additional treaty.

According to another deal, Armenia and Russia will form a joint defense
enterprise as well as the border guards and emergency situation experts
training centers. With Russia's assistance, Armenia's defense industry
will launch production of ammunition, armory, as well as form a repair
base for land, air and air defense forces.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/177272/

http://newsarmenia.ru/politics/20140326/43034569.html

This is good news. The Azeris can go suck a d#ck.

[Haykakan]

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

RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN MILITARY DEAL SUBMITTED FOR PUTIN'S RATIFICATION

March 26, 2014 - 14:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian cabinet of ministers submitted an agreement
on the development of military and technical cooperation with Armenia
for presidential ratification, Novosti-Armenia said.

The agreement stipulates for establishment of cooperation in
the sectors of the development, production, operation, repair,
modernization and utilization of weaponry and military equipment,"
Russian media reported quoting the message posted on the government's
website.

Armenian parliament ratified the military cooperation agreement with
Russia December 4, 2013. In June 2013, during the visit of the Russian
Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev to Armenia, a military and
technical cooperation agreement was signed with Russia. The agreement
stipulates for each side to supply military products with the same
specifications as for one's own armed forces. The agreement also
enables the supplier to exert control over the presence of products
and their compliance with the intended use to be described in an
additional treaty.

According to another deal, Armenia and Russia will form a joint defense
enterprise as well as the border guards and emergency situation experts
training centers. With Russia's assistance, Armenia's defense industry
will launch production of ammunition, armory, as well as form a repair
base for land, air and air defense forces.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/177272/

http://newsarmenia.ru/politics/20140326/43034569.html

[Haykakan]

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

RUSSIA'S SUKHOI EYES BIG JET DEAL WITH CHINESE COMPANY

Mar 26, 2014 2:55pm by Isabel Gorst

Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aviation has reached a preliminary agreement
to supply up to 100 Superjet-100's to China in what would be by far
the biggest sale yet of its flagship regional passenger jet. Apart
from swelling Sukhoi's order books, a Chinese deal could help Russia
circumvent possible western sanctions.

Sukhoi Civil Aviation signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to
sell up to one hundred Superjet-100s to O'Bay Aircraft, a privately
held airline based in Henan province in north China. As part of the
deal, the two sides are considering a joint assembly venture to make
SSJ-100's in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province.

"So far we only have a memo of understanding (with O'Bay)," Marina
Motornaya, spokeswoman for Sukhoi Civil Aviation, said on Tuesday.

"We're considering any options." In China, MOUs are treated as a warm
up to substantive negotiations on deal terms, meaning that many MOUs
fail to be implemented.

The deal is potentially complicated by Sukhoi's collaborations with
western manufacturers at a time of potential western sanctions on
Russia for its annexation of Crimea. THe SSJ-100 was developed in
co-operation with Boeing and is packed with imported US and European
technology. Engine parts supplied by France's Snecma, electronics
from Thales, US Goodrich made brakes could all be vulnerable if the
sanctions materialise.

The MOU is "an important stage in promotion of the SSJ-100 in the
Chinese market," Sukhoil Civil Aviation said in a statement on
Tuesday. "The Chinese side is interested not only in buying new
aircraft, but also in the implementation of large scale deals to
develop local aviation infrastructure in offset programs."

Capable of seating up to one hundred passengers, the SSJ-100 is the
first passenger aircraft to be developed in Russia since Soviet times.

Russia has set a goal to restore its neglected civil aviation industry
and capture 10 per cent of the world's regional passenger jet market by
2025. Launched in 2011, the SSJ-100 is a first step in that direction.

Russia with its vast land mass and ill developed road network is a
promising market for regional jets. Aeroflot, Russian national airline,
has replaced most of the old Russian-made planes in its fleet with
US Boeings for use on long haul flights but has bought ten SSJ-100's
for domestic and CIS routes.

Sukhoi entered an agreement with Alenia Aeronautica, a subsidiary
of Italy's Finmeccanica, its minority shareholder, to market the
SSJ-100 internationally in 2008. But the Russian aircraft has met
strong headwinds from established regional jet makers such as Canadian
Bombardier and Embraer of Brazil.

There have been some success stories - Indonesia's Sky Airlines and
Lao Central are flying SSJ-100s - and some setbacks. Armenia, the
first foreign customer for the SSJ-100, sent back the plane after
finding it could not afford spare parts.

A deal with O'Bay would open the door for Sukhoi to the fast growing
Chinese passenger jet market and dramatically improve the SSJ-100's
prospects.

China is promoting the development of its own aviation industry and
is pushing Sukhoi to agree to an assembly venture.

Sukhoi needs to move carefully. If the SSJ-100 is built in China
it would lose the prestigious "made in Russia" label. And there's a
risk that the Chinese would use the venture as a learning experience,
copy SSJ-100 technology and turf Sukhoi out.

Threats by the US and the European Union impose sanctions to punish
Russia's for annexing Crimea could help tip the scales in favour of
an assembly venture rather than a straightforward export deal. China
has remained above the fray in the Crimea furore and traditionally
views sanctions as counter productive.

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2014/03/26/russias-sukhoi-eyes-big-jet-deal-with-chinese-company/#ixzz2x57DPdMw

[Haykakan]

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

"You will pass like a hurricane and disappear, but we will stay put like our mountains forever"
Sad to say but not really a true statement. Most have left the rest are mostly on their way out or wishing they could leave. Perhaps this will be a true statement about Glendale Armos one day. I think we do have things to learn from the west and indeed the west has things to learn from us as well.

[Hakob]

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

You see what is happening in Ukraine? And that is against their own government, which is restrained by western political onslaught.
People tend to forget that 25 years ago Armenians did 10 times more against soviet government that was not restricted by anything. This should show about who Armenians are, and show to ones like cat, that came out from some sxxthole in the wall and are yellow beaked morons and dare to level insults at us.
Look at Armenia today. Isn't it strange that only pitiful 3-400 demonstrate against customs union?
Has anyone thought that people have judged and made decision as to what they need and what is for real? The parents of those soldiers that stand in trenches against azeris and turks, have carefully made their decision as to what their soldier children and their country need.
What this westerners and western backed morons talk about russia, people have lived in real life and they know perfectly well what it means. I have lived and know perfectly well what soviet life was. You can't scare us with that. We know what to really be weary of.
People see perfectly that 90% of those opposition on street have tuned their broadcast for and from their sponsors, otherwise, they are not talking from people's heart.
Armenians have a very keen sense of politics. They have to, and I am not saying that as a bragging, but they had to develop that in order to survive in the turkic muslim sea for 500 years. Didn't they see the oppression or massacres? they lived thru them right? So why did they cling to that piece of land for so long?
Because all those times Armenians always knew that they were better as human society from those who tried to exterminate them.
Right now those westerners and some political groups(including russian nationalism) are trying to break that in us. Make us feel like slaves for choosing what we think is right for us based on our knowledge and reality. Not by what they tell us. They are introducing "better" religions to people who carried their cross always for 1700 years among the most hostile animals. They trying to teach better human values to people who carried their own values for millennia and kept their head above the water in sea of oppression.
As far as I am concerned the west has a lot to learn from us in all those values, because they are the ones with their muslim competitors, wiping out whole civilizations around the world. They both are the ones who have built gas chambers, desert oblivions or siberian gulags. They are the ones who cut the throats of their own brothers in middle east and will soon see what we have seen for the past 500 years in europe itself(muslim onslaught).
Like our poem said, "You will pass like a hurricane and disappear, but we will stay put like our mountains forever".

[Artashes]

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

I'd have to add that advocating about some association, as to be the magic pill that would solve our problems, without any true facts comparision, without looking straight at both sides you have the choice of, and without talking about positives and negatives free of any prejudice and personal conviction, constitutes lack of responcibility towards the issue you are advocating. Generalising and mixing up issues instead of going into true details and aversion of seing the many sides of a political issue (only linear explanation), or fabricating in order to twist the truth, just because so they would feet into your perseption and desires is not a true patriotism or firendly gesture by "Odars", but a dilettantism or outright hostile act to Armenia.
I am not talking yet about the respect about subject that someone is discussing. Respect towards people that you are having your discussion with. Being a little satiric is accepted sometimes, but outright insults?

I agree with what you have said above except this lst point.
The one who used satire is in full agreement with the one who uses rude insults. It's a team act with simply different styles. Awareness & and caution is appropriate.
Personally I think we've done fairly well in this last squeeze play. We got an incredible gas deal from one side + an infusion of capital from the rejected side.
To those who say we don't have any sovereignty. It was our choice to accept or reject. We could have rejected Russia but would have to be prepared to freeze our a$ses off & since most vehicles run on gas we would have had to be prepared for a major transportation shut down. Of course we weren't gonna do that. But if we had have a in house answer we could have said no. We are not in possession of any magic pills or fixes. Considering the high stakes squeeze play we just emerged from, I think we didn't do half bad.
I can't help but think if the more capable section of the diaspora could act as one mind/one heart we hold the potential to shock & stun this fraudulent world. Yes only daydreaming but potential exists.
We need to continue the search.
Artashes