RUSSIA OPEN FOR MILITARY COOPERATION WITH AZERBAIJAN: AMBASSADOR
Trend News Agency
July 8 2008
Azerbaijan
Russia is prepared to military cooperation with Azerbaijan. "Russia is
open for military cooperation with Azerbaijan. However, presenting of
any military ‘toy’ exclusively to Azerbaijan is out of question,"
Vasiliy Istratov, the Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan, told
journalists on 8 July.
The Defense Ministries of Azerbaijan and Russia have an agreement on
bilateral cooperation. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry cooperates
with 50 countries.
The ambassador said that Russia is prepared to render maximal
assistance to find a solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict. However, the military cooperation does not mean military
assistance to Azerbaijan in the settlement of the conflict, the
diplomat said.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.