The Rise of the Russian Empire: Russo-Armenian Relations

[Armenian]

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

Russian defense minister to inspect mil base in Armenia

YEREVAN, January 26 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister arrived in Yerevan on Wednesday evening. He will inspect the 102nd Russian military base deployed in Armenia in accordance with an inter-state treaty.

Ivanov told Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his trip that he was foremost interested in finding out how well prepared is the base for accommodating the ammunition and military equipment which Russia is withdrawing from Georgia.

The Russian minister will meet with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and other senior officials to discuss a broad range of bilateral cooperation, foremost in the sphere of defense.

Commenting on redeployment of part of armaments and ammunition from Georgia to Armenia, Ivanov said they have been and will remain Russian property; so it is incorrect to claim that Russia is arming Armenia.

He is expected to discuss the Karabakh conflict. Russia is taking an active part in its settlement as a co-chairman of the OSCE's Minsk group for Nagorno Karabakh.

During his talks with top Azerbaijani officials earlier this week, Ivanov said a military solution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem had no prospects.

"This problem should be resolved by political and diplomatic efforts; the military solution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem has no prospects and can only aggravate it," he said after talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Safar Abiyev.

"This problem is one of the consequences of the breakup of the Soviet Union and it should be resolved by political and diplomatic efforts." Azerbaijan and Armenia should reach these conditions of settlement - a solution can be found only by these two states. The international community and Russia should do everything for it, Ivanov said.

Source: http://www.tass.ru/eng/level2.html?N...3247&PageNum=0

“THE RUSSIAN MILITARY BASES ARE ALLOCATED IN ARMENIA AT OUR REQUEST”

“The price of the Russian gas has nothing to do with our military cooperation. The Russian military bases were allocated in Armenia at our request and they form part of our security”, announced RA Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan and added, “Believe me, it is better for us”. {BR}

As for the RF Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov, he did not say anything about the military bases. Asked a question by the Armenian journalists why Russia sells weapon by commercial prices to Armenia he said, “Russia sell weapon by prices meant for the countries of Collective Security Treaty Organization. Only these countries can buy weapon by those prices”.

As for the opinion that selling weapon to Azerbaijan Russia can contribute to the disturbance of the balance of powers in the region, Mr. Ivanov announced that they do not sell weapon which can unbalance the region. Besides, he stressed that they do not have reason not to sell weapon to Azerbaijan, as the weapon commerce is an accepted business in the whole world.

And at the beginning of the press conference of the Defense Ministers Serge Sargsyan announced that as a result of the negotiations and tête-à-tête meetings they have come to the conclusion that «the Armenian –Russian cooperation develops steadily and there are no serious problems».

Source: http://www.a1plus.am/eng/?go=print&id=35327

Russian defense minister visited Memorial to victims of the Armenian Genocide

On January 26, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov who is currently in Armenia, visited Memorial to victims of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire in Yerevan.

As a REGNUM correspondent informs, the Russian minister was accompanied by Secretary of National Security Council of the Armenian President, Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, representative of the country’s military commandment, Russian Ambassador to Armenia and other officials. Ivanov placed a wreath to the Eternal Flame and observed the pine tree that he had planted by himself at the Alley of memory.

Besides, during his trip Ivanov visited Russian military base in Gyumri, met the Armenian president, prime minister and defense minister of Armenia.

Source: http://www.regnum.ru/english/polit/579732.html

[Armenian]

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

REPRESENTATIVES OF ARMENIA, RUSSIA AND IRAN TO TAKE PART IN "BRIDGE 2006" BUSINESS FORUM TO BE HELD IN FEBRUARY

YEREVAN, JANUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The "Bridge 2006" international
business forum will be held on February 17-20 in Tsakhkadzor. As Noyan
Tapan was informed by the "Master" center for supporting international
integration, which is the organizer of the event, representatives
of more than 100 Armenian leading enterprises, Russian and Iranian
business circles, as well as departments, chambers of commerce and
industry, branch unions of country-participants will take part in
the business forum.

The forum will be mainly dedicated to the subject of "Establishment of
a United Economic Area." Problems of business integration, transport,
investments, high technologies, construction and agrofoodstuffs sphere,
as well as issues connected with cooperation between bank system and
business will be discussed at the roundtables to be held within the
framework of the event.

The "Bridge 2006" is organized with the assistance of RA Ministry of
Trade and Economic Development, RA Foreign Ministry, Central Bank of
Armenia, Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen (Employers) of Armenia.

[Armenian]

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

Analysis: 'Moscow also has interests'

By HERB KEINON

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened a special meeting Tuesday to talk about relations with Russia at a time when Moscow seems willing to give succor to Israel's worst enemies: Iran and Hamas. Russia is doing all it can to come up with a compromise proposal that would keep the Iranian nuclear issue from going to the UN Security Council for sanctions. And Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is due to visit Moscow at the end of the week.

Olmert called together Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, National Security Council head Giora Eiland and top intelligence officers to discuss the situation. He didn't invite the Russians. If he had, this is likely what he would have heard: "Ehud, no offense intended, but you Israelis are a myopic, self-centered people. You think that your interests are all that matters in the world. But we also have interests, and those interests are served both by enriching Iran's uranium and by talking to Hamas. Let me explain.

"First regarding the Iranians, believe you me, we have no interest in seeing the ayatollahs have the power to blow up the world. We're right in their neighborhood, for goodness sake, and we know who they are and what they are capable of. We have made it clear that if they don't agree to our compromise to enrich their uranium, we will support sanctions at the UN to stop them from getting nukes, because, like I said, we know who they are and what they are capable of.

"But, Ehud, there are other issues involved. First of all, there is money. The nuclear reactor we are building for Iran at Bushehr is worth almost $1 billion to us. I repeat, $1 billion. We are not America. That is a lot of money, and it's a lot of money that would go to other contractors in other countries if the UN imposes sanctions on Iran. "Sanctions mean that we can't service Bushehr, or build other reactors the Iranians want built. Sanctions mean we also can't sell the Iranians arms, which also brings us billions of dollars more.

"So, obviously, we don't want sanctions. But we also don't want a nuclear Iran. If we enrich the uranium, as we have done for states that used to be in the Soviet sphere, then we can keep the Iranians from getting nukes, and fend off sanctions which will hurt us.That's good, no? "Secondly, have you ever heard of Nagorno Karabakh and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, or how about the Caspian Sea. Probably not, because your head is too deep into your own problems.

"But we have a little situation of our own down south between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis. I don't want to bore you with details of a conflict that makes the Palestinian-Israeli problem look simple, but there is a convergence of Iranian and Russian interests on the side of Armenia, against those of Turkey which sides with the Azerbaijanis. "Also the Caspian Sea. You Israelis carefully watch the Kinneret to see how much it rises or falls every day, and we think that is very quaint. We too are watching a sea, the Caspian, and it is a wee bit more important.

"Five countries border this sea, which is rich in oil and natural gas, and the countries are trying to divvy up who gets what, and through what pipeline it will all go to market. Russia and Iran are two of those countries; Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan are the others. Again, I'll spare you all the details, but on many of these issues Iranian and Russian interests are similar. "So, in short, we don't want to completely alienate the Iranians, because we cooperate with them in other spheres that are very important to us. And we'll do what we have to so as not to alienate them.

Link: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

[Armenian]

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

Iran, Russia Sign $1 Bln Defense Deal

Russia plans to sell more than $1 billion worth of tactical surface-to-air missiles and other defense hardware to Iran, media reported on Friday. Moscow is already at odds with the West over its nuclear ties with Tehran but has sought to use its warm relations with Iran to be recognized as a key mediator between the West and the Islamic Republic. U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, visiting Moscow, told Ekho Moskvy radio he had raised the issue of arms sales to Iran with Russia's Foreign Ministry.

"For the past 25 years, in our opinion, Iran has supported terrorists in the Middle East, in the United States, and that is why we have very bad relations with them. You can understand why we do not support the sale of weapons to such a country," he said in comments simultaneously translated into Russian. The Vedomosti business daily cited military sources as saying Iran would buy 29 TOR-M1 systems designed to bring down aircraft and guided missiles at low altitudes. The paper, calling it the biggest sale of Russian defense hardware to Iran for about five years, said Moscow and Tehran had already signed the contract.

Interfax news agency separately quoted a source as saying the deal, which would also include modernizing Iran's air force and supplying some patrol boats, was worth more than $1 billion. The move, likely to irritate Israel and the United States, could strain Moscow's efforts to broker a deal between Iran and European negotiators aimed at breaking a deadlock over Tehran's nuclear programme. Israel in particular is nervous about Iran's military potential after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in October that Israel should be "wiped off the map" -- comments condemned by Russia at the time.

WEST SUSPECTS IRAN

Russia's Defense Ministry declined to comment on the deal. Officials at state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, Russia's state defense supplier, were not available for comment. Western countries suspect Iran of seeking nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic programme, which Tehran denies, saying it wants only to generate electricity.

Russia is helping Iran build its first nuclear reactor and is preparing to launch it next year. Some in the West fear that Iran could use Russian know-how to make sensitive weapons. The defense industry source told Interfax there were no international restrictions on selling weapons to Iran. "Moreover, practically all the weapons that Russia is delivering to Iran in the coming years are defensive rather than offensive in character," the source said.

One Western diplomat who closely watches Russia-Iran dealings said news of the deal was alarming and would further increase tensions. "Russia has long positioned itself as a major peace broker between Iran and the West -- and all of a sudden they are throwing this bombshell. It just does not make any sense," said the diplomat, who asked to remain anonymous.

Source: http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2239/[email protected]

[Armenian]

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

ARMENIA AND RUSSIA REASSERT BONDS AMID GEORGIA’S CRISIS

While Georgia’s political crisis continues into its third week, Russian officials have praised Armenia as a chief ally in the volatile Transcaucasus region, potentially strengthening strategic ties between Moscow and Yerevan.

On Nov.14, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov met with his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian in Moscow. Russia’s chief diplomat hailed the bilateral alliance. Oskanian noted "complicated situation" in the region and dismissed media allegations that Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze had requested assistance from Armenian President Robert Kocharian. "It did not happen," Oskanian said, according to the RIA news agency.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov also distanced Russia and Armenia from the crisis in Georgia. Ivanov dubbed Armenia as "Russia’s only ally in the south," called Russian arms supplies to Armenia "purely defensive" and pledged to replenish them. "Russia’s military presence in Armenia is necessary. The military hardware at the Russian 102nd base makes any threat to Armenia unrealistic," Ivanov told a news conference in Yerevan, according to Interfax. "We will rearm and re-equip the Russian 102nd military base in Armenia."

On November 11, Ivanov and his Armenian counterpart Serge Sarkisian signed a number of agreements on the Russian military base as well as on bilateral military cooperation in 2004. The deals seem to bolster what is already a close strategic relationship. "These agreements would allow the 102nd base to feel more comfortable," Ivanov reportedly commented. Russian forces in Armenia reportedly use MiG-29 jetfighters and S300 PMU1 air defense batteries, an advanced version of the SA-10C Grumble air defense missile. According to Russian missile manufacturers, the new S300 has anti-stealth capability and can shoot down combat aircraft, cruise missiles as well as ballistic missiles in an ABM mode. The S300 PMU1 missile system can engage targets flying as low as 10 meters off the ground at a range of up to 150 kilometers.

Neighboring two traditionally hostile nations – Turkey and Azerbaijan - Armenia relies on Russia for political, military and economic support. In return, Armenia tends to support Russia’s geopolitical policy in the Caucasus. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. In 1997, the two countries signed a far-reaching friendship treaty, under which they provided for mutual assistance in the event of a military threat to either party. The pact also allows Russian border guards to patrol Armenia’s frontiers with Turkey and Iran.

Now that Georgia appears at risk of entering sustained political turmoil, this alliance may shape security decisions in Moscow. On November 14, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Moscow is ready to discuss faster withdrawal of Russian troops from Akhalkalaki and Batumi bases in Georgia. [For background, see the Eurasia Insight archives. <>] This would accelerate an established trend. Over the summer, one Russian battalion completed a transfer from Akhalkalaki to the 102nd base at Gyumri.

In the course of Georgia’s crisis, Russian and Armenian officials have been very careful to dismiss any hints of Russian possible meddling in Georgia. On November 14, Viktor Kazantsev, President Vladimir Putin’s chief envoy in the Southern Federal district, stated that Russia was not going to dispatch extra peacekeepers to Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Though Ivanov has taken a bellicose tone about Georgia in the past, the threat of instability there has reinforced rhetoric about Russia’s peacekeeping purpose. Kocharian has always been careful not to provoke Georgia. He stressed in January that that Armenia and Russia were forging closer security cooperation under the aegis of the CIS Collective Security Treaty, and thus the partnership "was not directed at third countries."

Russian military bases in Akhalkalaki and in Batumi, the capital of the autonomous province of Ajaria, are operating normally, Russian military spokesman Colonel Alexander Lutskevich told the RIA news agency. He dismissed allegations that the Russian troops in Georgia were on high alert.

Nonetheless, any tilt toward Yerevan may reflect anxiety about the ongoing Georgian standoff between Shevardnadze and opposition forces. Alexander Konovalov, head of the Moscow-based Institute for Strategic Assessments, suggested that Ivanov’s visit to Armenia was hardly a side trip. While it may help Kocharian’s peace of mind to have new Russian arms, no president in the Caucasus can feel sanguine about chaos in Georgia. Both Putin and Kocharian understand how a teetering Georgia can raise fears of terrorism, economic trouble, and even civil conflict.

Moscow and Tbilisi have been divided on a variety on issues, including continued Russian military presence in Georgia and in Georgia’s breakaway republic of Abkhazia. Russia has accused Tbilisi of assisting Chechen fighters in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge.[For background see the EurasiaNet Insight archive]. Georgian politicians have previously accused Russia of aiming at creating chaos in Georgia and meddling in Abkhazia. [For background, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Now, though, Georgia’s government evidently sees the value of friendlier ties with Russia. Georgian President Shevardnadze repeatedly called President Vladimir Putin on November 14 and 15, according to officials, and Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze traveled to Moscow on November 13 for closed-door consultations with Foreign Minister Ivanov. [For background see the EurasiaNet Insight archive].

As the question of who will govern Georgia continues, Russia’s investment in a quiet Armenia may deepen. Armenian officials presumably hope that investment pays dividends long after Georgian turmoil subsides.

Editor’s Note: Sergei Blagov is a Moscow-based specialist in CIS political affairs.

Link: http://www.eurasianet.org/department...av111703.shtml

[Armenian]

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

The Unified Air Defense System of the Commonwealth of Independent States was created ten years ago

Anti-aircraft systems struck their blows, and aviation hit surface targets to complete the Battle Community 2005 military exercise on the Ashuluk test ground in the Astrakhan region of Russia. About 2,000 military men from Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Tajikistan took part in the maneuvers.

The first stage of the exercise took part in June-July of the current year in the Chita region (in Russia's Siberia). Belarus' C-200 air defense systems fired their test missiles successfully. The next stage of the exercise took place in the beginning of August in the republic of Kazakhstan. Air defense units of Kazakhstan and anti-aircraft defense troops of another post-Soviet republic, Kyrgyzstan, participated in the maneuvers. The four countries trained the multilateral cooperation in combat during the last stage of the military exercise.

Russia's Minister for Defense, Sergei Ivanov, heads of defense departments from several CIS states and managers of defense enterprises were watching the process of the active phase of the exercise. Military delegations from Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan arrived in the Astrakhan region to observe the Battle Community 2005 exercise.

The Unified Air Defense System of the Commonwealth of Independent States was created ten years ago. The system protects the borders of its members in the air space. Tactical exercises are traditionally held in Russia at the end of summer.

The final stage of the maneuvers in the Astrakhan region of Russia took place with the participation of world-known air defense systems: S-300, S-125 and S-45, as well as with 40 battle planes such as Su-24, Su-25 and MiG-29. The exercise was held to set military units and formations on high alert, regroup air defense forces and aviation with a view to strengthen the protection of the defended objects.

The recent exercise ended with the creation of the regional group of air defense troops. “Until recently, it was up for each country to bring their command posts for the exercise. This time, there is one joint headquarters to command the whole process. It is actually the prototype of the future united group of air defense troops on the territory of the former USSR. Now we can set up a command post in any region,” Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

The minister highly estimated the exercises in Ashuluk and emphasized the fact that they were the battle maneuvers: “There was absolutely no imitation. Armenia, Tajikistan, Belarus and Russia performed missile launches successfully. The task has been executed,” Sergei Ivanov said.

It is hard to overestimate the significance of such cooperation. According to the Deputy Secretary of the Collective Security Treaty, Valery Semerikov, the defense ministers took efforts to retrieve the air defense system in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Colonel-General Leonid Maltsev told reporters that the documents about the creation of the joint air defense system had been practically ready. Mr. Maltsev's Russian colleague, Sergei Ivanov, added that Russia and Belarus were planning to conduct Air Force and Air Defense military exercises in 2006. In addition, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are to join Russian Armed Forces in September of 2005 for another exercise in the Asian region.

To crown it all, Sergei Ivanov set forth a sensational initiative after the completion of the Battle Community 2005 exercise. The defense minister offered to establish the joint European ABM system. Speaking about Russia's role in the project, Mr. Ivanov said that Russia would obviously make a considerable contribution in the system.

Link: http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/87/347/16081_ABM.html

[Armenian]

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

The Unified Air Defense System of the Commonwealth of Independent States was created ten years ago

Anti-aircraft systems struck their blows, and aviation hit surface targets to complete the Battle Community 2005 military exercise on the Ashuluk test ground in the Astrakhan region of Russia. About 2,000 military men from Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Tajikistan took part in the maneuvers.

The first stage of the exercise took part in June-July of the current year in the Chita region (in Russia's Siberia). Belarus' C-200 air defense systems fired their test missiles successfully. The next stage of the exercise took place in the beginning of August in the republic of Kazakhstan. Air defense units of Kazakhstan and anti-aircraft defense troops of another post-Soviet republic, Kyrgyzstan, participated in the maneuvers. The four countries trained the multilateral cooperation in combat during the last stage of the military exercise.

Russia's Minister for Defense, Sergei Ivanov, heads of defense departments from several CIS states and managers of defense enterprises were watching the process of the active phase of the exercise. Military delegations from Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan arrived in the Astrakhan region to observe the Battle Community 2005 exercise.

The Unified Air Defense System of the Commonwealth of Independent States was created ten years ago. The system protects the borders of its members in the air space. Tactical exercises are traditionally held in Russia at the end of summer.

The final stage of the maneuvers in the Astrakhan region of Russia took place with the participation of world-known air defense systems: S-300, S-125 and S-45, as well as with 40 battle planes such as Su-24, Su-25 and MiG-29. The exercise was held to set military units and formations on high alert, regroup air defense forces and aviation with a view to strengthen the protection of the defended objects.

The recent exercise ended with the creation of the regional group of air defense troops. “Until recently, it was up for each country to bring their command posts for the exercise. This time, there is one joint headquarters to command the whole process. It is actually the prototype of the future united group of air defense troops on the territory of the former USSR. Now we can set up a command post in any region,” Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

The minister highly estimated the exercises in Ashuluk and emphasized the fact that they were the battle maneuvers: “There was absolutely no imitation. Armenia, Tajikistan, Belarus and Russia performed missile launches successfully. The task has been executed,” Sergei Ivanov said.

It is hard to overestimate the significance of such cooperation. According to the Deputy Secretary of the Collective Security Treaty, Valery Semerikov, the defense ministers took efforts to retrieve the air defense system in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Colonel-General Leonid Maltsev told reporters that the documents about the creation of the joint air defense system had been practically ready. Mr. Maltsev's Russian colleague, Sergei Ivanov, added that Russia and Belarus were planning to conduct Air Force and Air Defense military exercises in 2006. In addition, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are to join Russian Armed Forces in September of 2005 for another exercise in the Asian region.

To crown it all, Sergei Ivanov set forth a sensational initiative after the completion of the Battle Community 2005 exercise. The defense minister offered to establish the joint European ABM system. Speaking about Russia's role in the project, Mr. Ivanov said that Russia would obviously make a considerable contribution in the system.

Link: http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/87/347/16081_ABM.html

[skhara]

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

You hold a little too much regard for "Putin's Russia". Putin is nothing special. He hasn't done a dam thing with the J-e-w and he is the same as his predicesors -- a money grubber.

Russia is a nation rich is history and tradition and soul, but right now she is sick. Completely sick, as are her inhabitants -- including the armos.

As far as the deployment to Syria -- I'll believe it when I see it. From what I remember "Yeltsin's Russia" made a lot a of noise about NATOs aggression on Yugoslavia -- but in all their noise they ended up backing down on everything. Even accepting the demeaning role of operating as part of the US forces on the very southern, completely Albanian populated tip of Kosovo. So hype is all it is.

We need to be comletely cut-throat in all approaches.

[Armenian]

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

40% of Russian Frontier Guards in Armenia Serve on Contract

The number of Armenians serving in the Russian frontier troops has already exceeded 50%, commander of the Russian border-guard force in Armenia, General Lieutenant Sergey Bondarev said. In his words, 40% of the Russian frontier troops in Armenia are staffed with military serving on contract and the number of Armenian servicemen is growing. “This is a unique fact when citizens of another state serve in our troops,” Bondarev noted. According to a treaty, the expenses are covered equally, reported the Military-Industrial Express.

Link: http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=17004

[Armenian]

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

RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN MILITARY EXERCISE ANACHRONISTIC

On September 10-13, Russia and Armenia conducted a tactical military exercise at the Marshal Bagramian training grounds, close to the Armenian-Turkish border. President Robert Kocharian and other Armenian officials attended the final, live-fire stage of the joint exercise. Each side committed a motor-rifle regiment, artillery, and tank company, for a total of 1,300 ground troops, to the four-day exercise. In addition, four Su-25 and four MiG-24 planes from the Armenian side, S-300 air defense systems, and four MiG-29 planes from the Russian side, and combat helicopters from both sides took part.

Armenia's Deputy Defense Minister, Lt.-General Mikael Grigorian, acted as coordinator of the exercise in the presence of Maj.-General Andrei Popov, commander of Russia's Group of Forces in the Transcaucasus (GRVZ), to which the Russian forces stationed in Armenia are subordinated. The GRVZ command headquarters has yet to be moved out of Tbilisi by Russia's Defense Ministry, presumably to the Russian base at Gyumri in Armenia. Russia stations an estimated 5,000 troops of all types in Armenia, including 3,000 officially reported to be based at Gyumri.

The exercise aimed to test the interoperability of Russian and Armenian forces. It rehearsed a defensive battle against "aggressor forces from the direction of Turkey" that attacked on the ground and in the air, advancing into Armenia during the first stage of the battle. In the follow-up stages, Russian and Armenian forces counterattacked and destroyed the invader's forward elements, then encircled and attacked the main invasion grouping, forcing it to surrender. This type of scenario is traditional at Armenian-Russian annual tactical exercises, but it now seems out of step with the bilateral rapprochement between Russia and Turkey on all levels, including that of regional security. This year's exercise scenario added for the first time an "anti-terrorist operation" to suppress a diversionary terror attack by the invading force.

Armenia's Su-25 planes made their first public appearance in the country on this occasion. Armenia took delivery of 10 planes of that obsolescent type from Slovakia's air force last year. They are co-located with the Russian base in Gyumri.

Addressing all troops in Russian after the exercise, Kocharian characterized Armenia-Russia relations overall as "brotherhood…thanks to which the Russian military base exists and we conduct joint exercises to ensure our countries' security." If viewed in those terms, however, the exercise scenario of battling Turkey seems anachronistic and unrealistic. For his part, Defense Minister Serge Sarkisian cited Azerbaijan as a source of threats to Armenia's security; he expressed confidence in the Armenian army's readiness to face that challenge.

While Yerevan portrayed the exercise accurately as a bilateral event, Moscow billed it as an undertaking of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Bordyuzha, also attending the event, listed the Russia-Armenia "group of forces" as a CSTO component, together with a Russia-Belarus group of forces and the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces in Central Asia. However, those two "groups of forces" exist only virtually, in Russian planning for wartime operations, and remain at any time a matter of Russia's bilateral relations with Armenia or Belarus. Armenia's participation in CSTO exercises remains confined to the annual air defense practice.

Moscow traditionally relies on bilateral relations for alliance management. However, Russia is interested in advertising the CSTO in order to enhance Russia's own status vis-à-vis NATO. Attending the NATO-Russia meeting of Defense Ministers on September 13 in Berlin, Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov cited the Russian-Armenian exercise as part of ongoing CSTO activities. He sought to portray the CSTO as an operational reality and urged NATO to establish cooperation with this Russian-led organization. Armenia, however, is interested in developing its own ties with NATO through an Individual Partnership Action Plan.

(Interfax, Regnum, Arminfo, Armenian Public Television, September 12-14; Air Force Monthly, August 2005)

Source: http://jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2370230