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Armenian DM Praises Level Of Cooperation With Russia

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  • Armenian DM Praises Level Of Cooperation With Russia

    ARMENIAN DM PRAISES LEVEL OF COOPERATION WITH RUSSIA

    ITAR-TASS News Agency
    April 18, 2006 Tuesday 09:21 PM EST

    Armenia and Russia maintain a high level of cooperation in defense
    and related technologies and their cooperative interests embrace a
    broad spectrum of problems, Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sarkissian
    says in an interview the Russian Army daily Krasnaya Zvezda published
    Wednesday.

    "We must by no means stop at what we've achieved to date," he says.

    "On the contrary, we must develop this relationship, all the more so
    that we have a legal and historical basis for it as well as willing
    to do it."

    Sarkissian mentions Armenia's cooperation with NATO, saying: "We
    don't develop it at the expense of relations with Russia, since the
    latter must expand in all areas but we realize it's important to be
    familiar with the experience gained in other Armed Forces."

    "Today's Armenian Army includes mechanized infantry and Air Force
    units," Sarkissian says. "We don't have separate branches and services
    of the Army or separate staffs for them. We have a single Joint Staff
    that guides the operation of all the units - five separate corps,
    an artillery detachment, and antiaircraft defense brigades."

    "The total manpower [of all of those units] is 45,000 men and
    officers," he says. "Naturally, that's too much for a country with a
    population of just 3 million people, but we must keep it up because
    of instability in Southern Caucasus and absence of solutions to the
    Karabakh problem."

    The latter centers around the mostly Armenian-populated Azerbaijani
    enclave of Karabakh that has been seeking independence, or some form
    of association with Armenia since late 1980's.

    "Unfortunately, any of the smoldering conflicts in Southern Caucasus
    may play the role of a detonator," Sarkissian said. "The regions is too
    small and all the countries there are interdependent on one another,
    and that's why a resumption of combat operations may have very bad
    consequences, including for ourselves."

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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