REPORTS OF ARMENIAN TROOP DEPLOYMENT IN RUSSIA DENIED

Asbarez Staff
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Sep 3rd, 2009

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)-Armenia will not have a permanent military presence
in Russia as part of its involvement in a Russian-led rapid reaction
force comprising troops from five former Soviet republics, a top
official in Moscow said on Thursday.

An agreement on the formation of the force, officially called the
Collective Operational Reaction Forces (CORF), was formalized in June
during a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a
Russian-led military alliance. Two of the CSTO’s seven member states,
Belarus and Uzbekistan, refused to sign the agreement because of
major disagreements with Moscow.

Citing an unnamed official at the CSTO headquarters in Moscow, the
Russian Regnum news agency reported last month that under the terms
of the deal, Armenia will be able to open two military bases in the
Russian North Caucasus. The official was quoted as saying that the
"limited contingent" would be stationed in the Krasnodar region and
the restive Muslim republic of Dagestan to primarily ensure "the
security of the transport infrastructure" in the area.

The Armenian government has not explicitly denied the information
so far. But Nikolay Bordyuzha, the CSTO secretary general, insisted
on Thursday that Moscow and Yerevan have not even negotiated on the
possibility of Armenian troop deployment in the mentioned area.

"Armenia is a party to the agreement on the Collective Operational
Reaction Forces and has set aside army units and special forces from
national security and internal affairs bodies for that purpose,"
Bordyuzha told Armenian journalists in a video conference from Moscow.

Bordyuzha said those forces would be normally based in Armenia. The
CORF would use them only "in cases where there is a need for their
involvement in carrying out a concrete military task," he added.

The Russian military is expected to contribute by far the largest
contingent of the CORF. Official Yerevan has yet to specify the number
of Armenian soldiers and other security personnel that it will commit
to the NATO-style force.