Armenia, Ukraine to boost military cooperation

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
24 May 06

[Presenter] Ukrainian army chief of staff Col-Gen Serhiy Kyrychenko,
who is paying an official visit to Yerevan, has highly rated the
combat readiness and experience of the Armenian army, which may have a
positive influence on military cooperation between the two countries.
Cooperation programmes between the Armenian and Ukrainian armed forces
have been confirmed by agreements.

[Correspondent] The military delegation led by Ukrainian army chief of
staff Col-Gen Serhiy Kyrychenko, who is paying an official visit to
Armenia, met representatives of the Armenian Defence Ministry. Then
the delegation visited the Tsitsernakaberd genocide memorial.

[Serhiy Kyrychenko, speaking in Russian with Armenian voice-over] This
is a very important friendly visit aimed at developing military
cooperation. Today we have the opportunity to continue cooperation
between the Armenian and Ukrainian armed forces. The talks promise
that the current work will promote the development of military
cooperation between the two countries in various spheres, including in
the military-technical sphere and peacekeeping.

[Correspondent] Serhiy Kyrychenko visited the Humanitarian Mine Action
Centre and the Vazgen Sarkisyan Military Institute. At a news
conference, Kyrychenko spoke about spheres of military cooperation
between Armenia and Ukraine, such as a military strategy,
military-technical cooperation, training, joint military exercises and
peacekeeping. Armenian army chief of staff Col-Gen Mikael Arutyunyan
noted that there was a sufficient basis for this.

[Mikael Arutyunyan, speaking in Russian with Armenian voice-over] We
discussed issues of mutual interest and we hope that in the near
future, we will have prospects of cooperation in the
military-technical and other spheres.

[Correspondent] Kyrychenko denied reports about arms supplies to
Azerbaijan over the last two years.

[Serhiy Kyrychenko] I flatly deny that Ukraine has sold weapons to
Azerbaijan.

[Correspondent] However, Azerbaijani and other sources have reported
that Ukraine has sold T-72 tanks and planes to Azerbaijan and that
several dozens of Azerbaijani planes are being repaired in Ukraine.

Ayk Ovannesyan, Karen Grigoryan, Romik Khachatryan, “Aylur”.