ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTERS REVIEW STRATEGIC TIES IN MOSCOW
By Alex DerAlexanian

Asbarez
Jan 13th, 2010

Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov

MOSCOW (RFE/RL)-Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov underlined
the "strategic" character of his country’s relationship with Armenia
during talks with his visiting Armenian counterpart, Seyran Ohanian,
on Wednesday.

Ohanian was in Moscow on a working visit aimed at reviewing Armenia’s
close military ties with Russia and their future.

"The ministers discussed the prospects of military and
military-technological cooperation between Russia and Armenia, as well
as the issue of Armenian servicemen studying at the Russian Defense
Ministry’s academies," the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Defense
Ministry spokeswoman Irina Kovalchuk as saying.

The Armenian Defense Ministry issued a virtually identical statement
on the talks. "Anatoly Serdyukov stressed that Russian-Armenian
cooperation in the military sphere has a strategic character," it
said. No further details were reported.

Moscow and Yerevan already highlighted that cooperation last month
when they agreed to work together in exporting weapons and other
military equipment to third countries. Ohanian and a visiting senior
Russian official signed relevant deal in Yerevan during a meeting of
a Russian-Armenian inter-governmental commission on military-technical
cooperation. No details of the agreement were made public, with Ohanian
saying only that it will further deepen bilateral defense links.

Ohanian’s talks in Moscow coincided with the start of a two-day visit
to Armenia by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The latter
is due to hold meetings with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign
Minister Eduard Nalbandian which the Russian Foreign Ministry said
will focus on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

A ministry spokesman positively assessed on Wednesday the current state
of Russian-Armenian relations. "Despite global crisis manifestations,
Russian-Armenian interaction in the trade-economic, military-political,
humanitarian and inter-regional areas is on a largely positive
development trend," Andrey Nesterenko said, according to Itar-Tass.