RUSSIA DEPLOYING MILITARY HARDWARE IN SEPARATIST REGION – AZERI ARMY OFFICIAL

Turan News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 1 2007

The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry has expressed its concern over what
it describes as Russian military deployment in the separatist region
of Nagornyy Karabakh, the Azerbaijani news agency Turan has said.

The ministry spokesman, Eldar Sabiroglu, said on 30 November that
some of the weapons withdrawn from Russian military bases in Georgia
were being deployed in the breakaway region of Nagornyy Karabakh,
Turan said.

"Five thousand soldiers and officers have been deployed in military
base No 102 in Armenia. Some of the weapons withdrawn [from Georgia]
are being deployed in Nagornyy Karabakh," the agency quoted Sabiroglu
as saying.

The spokesman said that Azerbaijan had the most powerful army in the
region, adding that the Azerbaijani army was capable of recapturing
the Armenian controlled-territories of Azerbaijan.

He noted that the Azerbaijani army was successfully adopting NATO
standards. Ground troops and air forces have already adopted NATO
standards, Turan quoted Sabiroglu as saying.