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ALLIES AND ALLEGIANCES: ARMENIA TAKES RUSSIAN-AZERBAIJANI MILITARY TIES IN ITS STRIDE
Analysis | 15.10.14 | 10:46
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow correspondent
Yerevan takes "normally" the deepening Russian-Azerbaijani
military-political cooperation, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran
Ohanyan stated on Tuesday.
On Monday, in Baku, the defense ministers of Azerbaijan and Russia
held talks after which a military cooperation plan for 2015 was
signed. "One of the major aspects of our work, of course, is the
strengthening of interstate cooperation in the Caspian Sea. To this
end, we discussed the prospect of creating a system of collective
security in the Caspian," said Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu
after talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Hasanov.
Speaking at the French University in Yerevan Armenian Defense Minister
Ohanyan said: "The Caspian Sea basin is quite a complex area, there
are five states there and they should cooperate. We normally look at
this cooperation that will lead to the fact that security issues in
the region are put on a higher level."
Azerbaijani media on a daily basis interview Russian experts, who in
one voice say that Russia is cooperating with Azerbaijan in order to
prevent NATO forces from entering the Caspian Sea region. Experts
say that Azerbaijan was close to let NATO into the Caspian as
the North-Atlantic alliance is going to control the laying of a
trans-Caspian pipeline.
However, Moscow torpedoes the construction of the pipeline that is
designed to become part of the western communication system bypassing
Russia. A few weeks ago the Russian city of Astrakhan hosted the
summit of the five Caspian nations that made only one decision - to
prevent "third countries" from entering the Caspian region. Russian
experts link the military cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan
with these circumstances.
Nevertheless, this cooperation cannot but cause concern in Armenia,
which is in a state of undeclared war with Azerbaijan. More importantly
is that Russia is Armenia's military ally as both nations are members
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies
Manvel Sargsyan said in an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service
that after the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan Moscow gradually moves
towards forming a military-political alliance with Baku.
"Russia is trying its best to assure [Armenia] that the sale of weapons
is just business, but in the end it became clear that it is a new
strategy of Russia," said Sargsyan. According to the expert, Moscow
is deliberately keeping the two South Caucasus states, locked in a
bitter conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, highly dependent on Russian
weapons so that in the future they fulfill its decisions.
Meanwhile, a high-ranking Russian military delegation led by commander
of the Russian Armed Forces Engineering Troops Yuri Stavitsky has
arrived in Armenia. On October 14-17, a working group of the Office
on Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection of the Russian Armed
Forces is also on a visit to Armenia.
http://armenianow.com/commentary/analysis/57619/armenia_azerbaijan_military_cooperation
Analysis | 15.10.14 | 10:46
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow correspondent
Yerevan takes "normally" the deepening Russian-Azerbaijani
military-political cooperation, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran
Ohanyan stated on Tuesday.
On Monday, in Baku, the defense ministers of Azerbaijan and Russia
held talks after which a military cooperation plan for 2015 was
signed. "One of the major aspects of our work, of course, is the
strengthening of interstate cooperation in the Caspian Sea. To this
end, we discussed the prospect of creating a system of collective
security in the Caspian," said Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu
after talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Zakir Hasanov.
Speaking at the French University in Yerevan Armenian Defense Minister
Ohanyan said: "The Caspian Sea basin is quite a complex area, there
are five states there and they should cooperate. We normally look at
this cooperation that will lead to the fact that security issues in
the region are put on a higher level."
Azerbaijani media on a daily basis interview Russian experts, who in
one voice say that Russia is cooperating with Azerbaijan in order to
prevent NATO forces from entering the Caspian Sea region. Experts
say that Azerbaijan was close to let NATO into the Caspian as
the North-Atlantic alliance is going to control the laying of a
trans-Caspian pipeline.
However, Moscow torpedoes the construction of the pipeline that is
designed to become part of the western communication system bypassing
Russia. A few weeks ago the Russian city of Astrakhan hosted the
summit of the five Caspian nations that made only one decision - to
prevent "third countries" from entering the Caspian region. Russian
experts link the military cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan
with these circumstances.
Nevertheless, this cooperation cannot but cause concern in Armenia,
which is in a state of undeclared war with Azerbaijan. More importantly
is that Russia is Armenia's military ally as both nations are members
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies
Manvel Sargsyan said in an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service
that after the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan Moscow gradually moves
towards forming a military-political alliance with Baku.
"Russia is trying its best to assure [Armenia] that the sale of weapons
is just business, but in the end it became clear that it is a new
strategy of Russia," said Sargsyan. According to the expert, Moscow
is deliberately keeping the two South Caucasus states, locked in a
bitter conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, highly dependent on Russian
weapons so that in the future they fulfill its decisions.
Meanwhile, a high-ranking Russian military delegation led by commander
of the Russian Armed Forces Engineering Troops Yuri Stavitsky has
arrived in Armenia. On October 14-17, a working group of the Office
on Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection of the Russian Armed
Forces is also on a visit to Armenia.
http://armenianow.com/commentary/analysis/57619/armenia_azerbaijan_military_cooperation