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US-Sponsored Border Guard Training Centre Opens In Armenia

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  • US-Sponsored Border Guard Training Centre Opens In Armenia

    US-SPONSORED BORDER GUARD TRAINING CENTRE OPENS IN ARMENIA

    Mediamax news agency
    22 Mar 06

    Yerevan, 22 March: A training centre of the Armenian border troops,
    renovated with money provided by the US government, opened in Yerevan
    today.

    Speaking at the opening ceremony, US ambassador to Armenia John
    Evans stressed the importance of the centre in ensuring the reliable
    protection of the Armenian borders and preventing the illegal
    transportation of dangerous cargoes and smuggling and trafficking,
    Mediamax reports.

    According to the diplomat, "the operation of the centre meets the
    interests of the Armenian people and the international community".

    The USA invested a total of 214,000 dollars in the renovation of the
    centre's building.

    Armen Abramyan, commander of the Armenian border troops, said that
    the USA has been supplying Armenian border guards with transport and
    technical control facilities, state-of-the-art radio stations and
    computers since December 2001.

    The building of the Bagratashen checkpoint on the Armenian-Georgian
    border was opened in May 2005 with the assistance of the US
    government. The construction of a barracks at the Gogavan checkpoint
    on the border with Georgia will be completed in the near future.

    An official statement released by the US embassy said that "several
    groups of Armenian border guards have already attended one- and
    two-month courses in preparation for replacing Russian border guards
    at Zvartnots airport." At the same time, Armen Abramyan said that
    not all of the Russian border guards at the airport will be replaced,
    Mediamax reports.

    Mediamax recalls that under bilateral agreements, Armenian and Russian
    border guards are jointly protecting Armenia's border with Turkey
    and Iran. Russian, not Armenian, border guards have been working at
    the checkpoint Armenia at Zvartnots international airport in the past
    few years.

    Mediamax notes that the head of the Russian Federal Security Service's
    Border Directorate in Armenia, Lt-Gen Sergey Bondarev, said in January
    2006 that Armenian and Russian border guards started to serve jointly
    at the checkpoint Armenia. Bondarev said that "joint work has already
    proved its efficiency".
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