U.S. CUTS FINANCIAL AID TO ARMENIA
Interfax
May 8 2009
Russia
The U.S. administration plans a lower volume of financial aid to
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh for the 2010 fiscal year than the 2009
level and to give more military aid to Azerbaijan than to Armenia in
2010, the country director for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh of the
Armenian Assembly of America Arpi Vartanian said on Friday.
The White House sets its planned financial assistance to Armenia in
the 2010 fiscal year at $30 million instead of the 2009 amount of
$48 million, Vartanian told reporters.
Moreover, the proposed 2010 budget does not include any section
about humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh whereas the 2009 budget
allocates $8 million for Azerbaijan’s disputed Armenian-speaking
enclave, she said.
Vartanian also attacked White House plans for military aid to Armenia
and Azerbaijan in 2010. She argued that this threatened to upset the
balance of power in the South Caucasus.
The Obama administration sets its proposed military assistance
to Armenia at $3 million but that to Azerbaijan at $4 million for
that year, she said. Furthermore, $450,000 would be allocated for
military training programs for Armenia but $900,000 for such programs
for Azerbaijan.
Vartanian said the Assembly, which is a Washington-based Armenian-
American advocacy organization, would seek support from the U.S. Senate
and House of Representatives for efforts to prevent the regional
balance of power from being ruined.