CHECHEN WEB SITE SAYS ARMENIAN ARMY “ABSORBED INTO” RUSSIAN ARMY BASE
Chechenpress web site, Tbilisi
30 Mar 04
Chechenpress correspondent Muslim Mamedov: The Armenian armed forces
have now been fully absorbed into a strong military group “codenamed”
the 102nd military base of Russia in Armenia. I have discovered
another confirmation of this in a Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye
(No 10, 2004) report entitled “Two sides of the 102nd military base”.
But, in fact, there are no two sides, but there is a close merger. I
quote the aforesaid report: “There are several hundred metres between
the two military units on Yerevan’s outskirts. The Russian regiment is
nearer to the town, the communications regiment of the Armenian armed
forces is away from it. The two units are part of Russia’s 102nd
military base on Armenian territory, i.e. somewhat this is one
Armenian structure”. Second, when asked by a Nezavisimoye Voyennoye
Obozreniye correspondent: “What about the division of duties from the
viewpoint of solving military tasks?”, the commander of the
communications regiment of the Armenian armed forces, Lt-Col
Stepanyan, said: “There is no precise division. Both our and Russian
signallers fulfil any tasks set by the command”.
The command is naturally Russian.
Is it possible to speak about Armenia’s independence, if its army is
completely subordinate to Russian generals?
It is known that the 426th aircraft group, which is part of Russia’s
102nd military base, is involved in attacks in Chechnya. One can
naturally assume that Armenia is involved in these attacks as well.
The second important point: the 772nd separate reconnaissance
battalion of the Russian base in Armenia has been actively involved in
acts of sabotage throughout the South Caucasus. It means the
involvement of the Armenian armed forces’ reconnaissance in these
sabotage activities as it is part of the 772nd separate battalion of
the Russian base.
(Passage omitted: Armenians face problems in Russia’s Krasnodar
Territory and other regions)
I would like to ask Russia’s 2m Armenians: do they approve of
Armenia’s decision to allow the Russian colonisers to establish full
control over the Armenian army?