Azerbaijan to step up security spending
by Sokhbet Mamedov

RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
August 12, 2005 Friday

SOURCE: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No 68, p.4

Baku is concerned with the stationing of Russian troops from Georgia
to Armenia

Sources in the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan believe that the upcoming
relocation of Russian troops and military equipment from Georgia
to Armenia sparks serious concerns for the country’s security. The
Nezavisimaya Gazeta’s source said that according to the Azeris’
information the troops will be stationed in the Tavush, Berd and
Idzhevan regions of Armenia, adjacent to Azerbaijan.

Upon obtaining this information, Baku decided to act accordingly and
increase the budget spending on national defense by $50 million to
$300 million. Along with that, the country is rapidly developing
security contacts with Turkey, whose top military officials have
started to pay frequent visits to Baku. Also, military cooperation
with the United States is being developed. Azeri press reports that
the Baku’s concerns with the relocation of Russian troops to Armenia
was discussed during the recent secret meeting of the Azerbaijan’s
Defense Minister Elmar Mamedyarov with top officials of Pentagon.

Many experts believe that military cooperation between Washington and
Baku will develop further, since Azerbaijan is becoming an increasingly
important partner for the United States, especially since Pentagon is
being pressed by the Uzbekistan’s authorities to withdraw U.S. troops
from that Central Asian country.

Azeri analysts predict that after the next visit of the U.S.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to Baku, due in August, Azerbaijan
may finally agree to host U.S. military bases. Thus the country’s
authorities will create a counterweight to Russian forces in Armenia
and will also secure Washington’s backing of the results of the
upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled to take place in November.