ARMENIA: YEREVAN BUYING RUSSIAN ARMS AT CSTO DISCOUNT

Eurasianet

May 22, 2009

Russia is selling guns at a discounted price to its budget-conscious
allies Armenia and Belarus under membership provisions of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Moscow-led
counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),
the Arminfo news agency reported.

"Agreements on the basic principles of military and technical
cooperation within the framework of the CSTO are fully effective and
include supplying military hardware to CSTO states at a privileged
price," CSTO spokesperson Vitaly Strugovets told Arminfo. He added
that Belarus and Armenia are making effective use of the opportunity.

The volume of orders for Russian weaponry and materiel tripled between
2007 and 2008, Strugovets said.