EXPERT SAYS RUSSIA, ARMENIA MAY CONCLUDE LARGE ARMS CONTRACTS

Radio Mayak
23 Aug 07
Moscow

President Vladimir Putin in Sochi today will receive his Armenian
counterpart, Robert Kocharyan. The director of the strategies and
technologies analysis centre, Ruslan Pukhov, believes that defence
cooperation will certainly be discussed at the talks.

[Pukhov] The point is that at the moment Russia is not engaged in
major military-technical cooperation with Armenia. This is due to the
fact that Russia has very much hoped that the problem of Nagornyy
Karabakh will be resolved with the help of international mediators
and that Azerbaijan and Armenia will be able to find some mutually
acceptable solution.

However, it can be acknowledged at the moment that Azerbaijan is
buying large quantities of weapons, primarily abroad and first of
all in Ukraine.

They have bought MiG-29 aircraft and are holding intensive talks
with a number of foreign countries. They have even managed to buy a
certain quantity of equipment for the Ground Troops from us.

Russia only has three military allies in the world – Syria, Armenia and
Belarus. We are aware of large arms deliveries to Syria and Belarus.

Therefore, it can be said with a high degree of certainty that large
armament contracts with Armenia will be concluded in the near future.

This subject will certainly be discussed at the meeting between
President Kocharyan and President Putin in Sochi.