CHECKING COMMANDERS’ CLOCKS
Dmitry Yermolaev

DEFENSE and SECURITY
June 23, 2008 Monday
Russia

DEFENSE MINISTERS OF RUSSIA AND ARMENIA DISCUSSED SYNCHRONIZATION
OF REFORMS OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE COUNTRIES; Defense Minister
of Armenia, Seiran Oganyan, arrived to Russia on a first working
visit. Oganyan negotiated with his Russian colleague Anatoly
Serdyukov. The ministers discussed problems of military technological
cooperation of the two countries and upcoming reforming of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Defense Minister of Armenia, Seiran Oganyan, arrived to Russia on a
first working visit. Oganyan negotiated with his Russian colleague
Anatoly Serdyukov. The ministers discussed problems of military
technological cooperation of the two countries and upcoming reforming
of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Armenia keeps living in extreme conditions determined by the
existence of the "frozen" Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and very difficult
geopolitical situation in which the country has found itself after
the breakup of the Soviet Union. The situation is aggravated by
the fact that many years of political and diplomatic efforts of
the international community for resolving of this conflict have
failed. That is why the stake of Yerevan at Russia and other countries
with which it has no problems in the context of regional interests
is natural. Cooperation of Armenia with NATO in the framework of the
individual partnership action plant (IPAP) looks equally natural. It
can be viewed as a certain hindering factor for prevention of
restarting of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Almost all
Armenian analysts agree that such hostilities are quite possible in
certain circumstances. That is why the maintenance of combat readiness
of the army is a priority for Armenia.

In Moscow, Oganyan discussed problems of synchronization of reforms
in the Armenian army with the reforms going on in the Armed Forces
of Russia to ensure their strategic compatibility.

There is a Russian military base on the territory of Armenia. It is
refilled with new models of Russian armament and organizes exercises
joint with the Armenian army. Baku disapproves this and suspects
Moscow of a "double standards" policy. At any rate, Armenia is the
only member state of the CFE that borders with NATO countries. Common
geostrategic space and common threats to national interests of the
two countries condition expediency of their concerted actions. That
is why Armenia has a special strategic importance for the military
political interests of Russia in the Caucasus. For Armenia Russia is
also a vital zone of its national interests.