ARMENIA CELEBRATES 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
September 21, 2006 Thursday
Combined reports
President Vladimir Putin sent a message of greetings to Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan on Thursday on the occasion of the 15th
anniversary of Armenia’s independence celebrated on Thursday.
"Armenia was and remains Russia’s reliable friend and ally. The two
countries are united by long -standing traditions of cooperation,
we have close cultural and spiritual contacts. I am confident that
the Russo-Armenian relations will develop in future in the spirit
of mutual understanding aimed at further deepening of strategic
partnership and the relationship between the countries- allies,"
Putin said in the message.
On Thursday morning a military parade was held in the central square
of Yerevan devoted to the 15th anniversary of Armenia’s independence.
President Robert Kocharyan, other members of the Armenian government,
head of the Armenian Apostolic Church Catholics Garegin II and
President of self-proclaimed Karabakh republic Arkady Gukasyan were
standing on a rostrum decorated in red-blue-orange colors of the
Armenian state flag.
Defense Minister, Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Serzh
Sarkisyan inspected troops lined up on the parade grounds and
congratulated the troops upon the 15th jubilee. Then, the Armenian
national anthem was played, and fifteen artillery salvoes were fired.
Planes of the Armenian Air Force performed aerobatic flights, leaving
a tail of smoke that had a shade of the Armenian tricolor flag. The
audiences watched flights preformed by Russian Mig-29 jets sent from
the 102nd Russian Air Force base stationed in Armenia in accordance
with the Russo-Armenian interstate agreement.
The gala show included a parade of armored vehicles, missile and
artillery troops and Air Defense troops that belong to the United
Air Defense troops of the CIS. All the aircraft and ground military
hardware used in Armenia are either of Soviet or Russia’s make, and
most of the Armenian officers are graduates of military schools of
the former Soviet Union and Russia.
A brass orchestra of the Armenia Defense Ministry crowned the gala
parade in Yerevan.