Redeployment of troops to Armenia not aimed against Azerbaijan -Russian envoy
Trend news agency
2 Jun 05
Baku, 2 June: “The Russian side has not yet made up its mind on the
possible re-deployment of Russia’s military hardware from Georgia to
Armenia, and media reports to that effect have nothing to do with the
re-deployment of Russian bases from one place to another,” the charge
d’affaires of the Russian Federation in Azerbaijan, Petr Burdykin,
told journalists today, Trend reports.
He acknowledged the possibility that the military bases might really
be supplied with something because, as a large facility, they cannot
stay without equipment throughout the year. He said that if it
wasn’t something made up by journalists, it is ordinary equipment,
the transfer of some hardware as part of ordinary material and
technical provision.
As for the re-deployment of military hardware from Georgia, the
diplomat said that “Russia is being urged to withdraw its troops from
Georgia as soon as possible and pressure is put on us not only by
Tbilisi, but also by other countries which urge us to seek ways of
doing it quickly, and one of the ways is to send the troops to our
military base in Armenia”.
The Russian diplomat said this didn’t mean that the arms were being
handed over to Armenia.
“This re-deployment, if it does take place, will not be aimed against a
third country, will not affect the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict and does not run counter to international agreements,”
he said.
According to the diplomat, he has submitted the Russian side’s official
response to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry following the latter’s
note presented to him last week.