Author: Yeghisabet Arthur

THEY SAT DOWN TO WORK ON MILITARY DISTRICTS AGAIN
by Vladimir Mukhin

Source: Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie, No. 42, November 17-23, 2006, p. 5
Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
November 20, 2006 Monday

The first regional command will be in the southern direction

IN A FEW DAYS THE PRESIDENT WILL APPROVE LOCATION OF THE HEADQUARTERS
OF REGIONAL COMMAND SOUTH; Officials of the General Staff hope
that in a few days the President will approve location of regional
command South.

Officials of the General Staff hope that in a few days the President
will approve location of regional command South. According to available
information, this will evidently be Samara where the staff of the
Volga Military District was located in the past. Thus the Defense
Ministry transits to real fulfillment of plans for new military
administrative division of Russia.

Now the country is divided into six military districts. It is planned
to establish three united commands instead of them and to subordinate
all branches of the Armed Forces to them. They will be named West,
South and East.

According to Lieutenant General Yury Netkachev, former deputy commander
of the group of Russian forces in Transcaucasia, the Volga-Urals
Military District (probably not the entire district because its
eastern territories will be subordinated to command East) and the
North Caucasian Military District will be subordinated to territorial
military command South. Command South will also command foreign
groups and objects of the Armed Forces deployed in Central Asia and
Transcaucasia. The main attention will be focused on them because the
military bases in foreign countries have already become inter-branch
groups of forces including not only the Ground Forces units but also
units and formations of the Air Defense Forces and Air Force.

In Armenia this group already appeared. A similar group is being
established in Central Asia. Recently, Air Force Commander Vladimir
Mikhailov announced that an air base would be established in Tajikistan
on the military airfield Aini near Dushanbe in 2007, and this base
would be organizationally included in the 201st military base of
the Ground Forces. Observers do not rule out that the air base in
Kant (Kyrgyzstan) will also be subordinated to command of the 201st
military base and through it to command South to appear soon in Samara.

This is confirmed by the recent visit of Chief of the General Staff
Yury Baluevsky to Samara. According to the plan for buildup of the
Armed Forces between 2006 and 2010, approved by President Vladimir
Putin, it is the General Staff that is responsible for conduction of
an experiment for transition from the district principle of troops
command in the strategic directions to command of an inter-branch
regional group of forces.

This experiment was conducted in the Siberian and Far Eastern military
districts since July 2006.

Now it is known that the headquarters of the new regional command in
the East Siberian strategic direction will be in Ulan-Ude. Chief of
the General Staff Yury Baluevsky commanded the military staff command
exercise Baikal-2006 from there in July 2006. In Soviet times, Ulan-Ude
was already the headquarters of the East Siberian strategic direction
and has proven its capability.

The experiment for command of the troops in the East Siberian strategic
direction will be accomplished in 2007. According to officers of
the General Staff, already now there is a big probability that it
will be successful. The preconditions are already being prepared for
spreading the experiment to other regions of the country, of course,
first of all to the south from where the main military threat to the
country’s security comes according to the Security Council.

US OFFICE OF DEFENSE COOPERATION PROVIDES ENGLISH LANGUAGE LAB FOR ARMENIAN AVIATION INSTITUTE

Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 17 2006

The US Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) announced the
opening of the new English language laboratory that it provided to
the Armenian Aviation Institute. This is the second English language
laboratory that the ODC, through its International Military Education
and Training program, has provided to the Aviation Institute, and the
third that it has provided to the Armenian Ministry of Defense. US
Charge d’Affaires Anthony F. Godfrey and General Mayor Melkonyan
participated in the ceremony. During the event, Charge d’Affaires
Godfrey noted that this facility will be integral to helping Armenian
officers and soldiers learn English – an essential component of helping
Armenia’s forces work together with the forces of other nations in
international coalitions.

The new English language laboratory, which was installed by US
contractor Dal Media Solutions, can facilitate 15 students at a time.

It is equipped with student workstations with headphones, and the
instructor can further use a desktop computer with Internet access,
televisions, CD players, and DVD/VHS players to help students learn
English. The U.S. ODC has also provided English language instructor
training to Lieutenant Irene Arakelyan and Lieutenant Artak Pandunts,
who will work to further increase the quality of English language
training at the Institute.

The new lab will help fulfill the joint goal of the US ODC and
the Armenian Ministry of Defense to centralize English language
instruction standards for Armenian officers, non-commissioned officers,
and soldiers at the Aviation Institute. The ODC plans to upgrade both
English language laboratories at the Aviation Institute in 2007 so
that each student workstation is equipped with a laptop computer that
will be networked to the instructor’s computer to further diversify
the resources that are available at the Institute.

The US Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) in Armenia works to foster
U.S. government and industry assistance in the Armenian defense
sphere. The US ODC works for the US Chief of Mission in Armenia and
the US European Command, located in Stuttgart, Germany.

RUSSIAN MFA WILL ATTAIN DETAILED INVESTIGATION OF ARMENIAN TEENAGER MURDER

PanARMENIAN.Net
18.11.2006 14:37 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Russian MFA assures that the murder of the
Armenian teenager in localities near Moscow will be investigated in
detail and those guilty will be made answerable. The 15-year-old
boy was killed November 11 next to the Ivanteevka bay in Moscow
region. "The Russian MFA condoles with relatives of Nairi Kocharyan
and also denounces other crimes, committed on the ground of national
hostility.

We will attain detailed investigation of the murder of the Armenian
teenager," Russian MFA official representative Mikhail Kamynin
stated. "Xenophobia is alien to the spirit of our people, the Orthodox
origins," the said. In the diplomat’s words, "individual manifestations
of declassed marginals, aimed at instigating international and
inter-religious discord in our country, seriously harm interests of
our democratic multi-ethnic state." "The authority structures will
severely rebuff this," Kamynin underscored, reports RIA Novosti.

EU NOT PASSIVE IN CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IN SOUTH CAUCASUS

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.11.2006 13:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "I cannot say that the EU is passive in the conflict
settlement in the South Caucasus. The EU has done a great deal of
work," EU High Commissioner Javier Solana stated. In his words,
the conflicts are rooted in the problems the whole region faces. "I
would like to stress the importance of talks between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. The EU supports the mediating endeavors of the OSCE Minsk
Group and I hope that the meeting of the Foreign Ministers in November
14 will promote the process," he said.

When touching upon Georgia’s internal conflicts Solana said the EU
considers the resolution of the conflicts to be vitally important
for the region. "EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus
Peter Semneby helps Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to reconsider the
economic and political reforms and press for the further development
of the region making contribution to the peaceful settlement of
conflicts and encouraging cooperation between the countries," he said,
reported Trend.

Chairman of UAR Murmansk Regional Community Killed

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.11.2006 14:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Chairman of Murmansk regional community of the
Union of Armenians of Russia, head of the Murmansk Church Council
of the AAC Artur Harutyunyan was killed next to his house November
16 at about 8 p.m. According to informal sources, he was shot into
face. Chief of the Murmansk regional police Victor Pesterev said
that Harutyunyan was killed at the entry of his house in Kolsky
Avenue. An investigation group was formed and search measures are
being carried out. Artur Harutyunyan was 42. He had a 17-year-old
son and a six-month-old daughter.

Artur Harutyunyan was also a famous entrepreneur, who possessed 70.054
per cent package of the Murmansk Social Commercial Bank (the rest
27.47 per cent belong to the Russian government via the Russian Fund
of Federal Property). Presently the state package is put up for sale.

NO COUNTRY THAT RESPECTS ITSELF WILL RECOGNIZE REFERENDUM IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH – AZERI SPEAKER
Author: S.Aliyev

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 15 2006

"I do not consider the referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh as a
referendum. No country respecting itself will recognize this
referendum," the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Oktay Asadov
briefed the media on November 15 commenting on the referendum scheduled
to take place on December 10 in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan, Trend reports. The Speaker stressed that on November 16-17
it is planned to hold the meeting between the Head of Parliaments of
"Caucasus four" within the meeting of the Heads of the Parliaments
of CIS member-countries in Saint-Petersburg. "Azerbaijan will act so
that not to be conflict country in CIS. For this it needs to use the
force and experience of CIS countries to put pressure on the countries
that are guilty in these conflicts," Asadov said.

ARKA News Agency, Azerbaijan
Nov 10 2006

RUSSIAN BUSINESSMEN INTERESTED IN LARGE-SCALE INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, November 9. /ARKA/. Russian businessmen are interested in
large-scale investments in Armenia, President of the Union of
Jewelers of Armenia Gagik Abramyan told reporters.
"Russian businessmen, irrespective of their nationality, have
recently been greatly interested in making investments in Armenia,"
he said.
He said that many Russian companies intend to implement investment
programs in Armenia.
In his turn, President of the MIKA Armenia Trading Mikhail Bagdasarov
pointed out that Russian businessmen are interested in expanding
their business throughout the CIS now.
"Russia is the richest country in the post-Soviet area, and Russian
business has extremely intensified its activities in Belarus,
Ukraine, Armenia, Uzbekistan and even in Georgia," he said.
The RA Statistical Service reports that Russian investments in
Armenia totaled $19,220.9ths in January-June 2006 – a 41.9% increase
compared to the corresponding period of last year.
A total of $11,679.5ths (60.76%) of Russian investments were directed
to the metallurgical industry, $2,963ths to the recreation sphere,
$1,318.5ths to private services, $1,335ths to production and
distribution of electric power, gas, water and steam, $853.9ths to
computer-related activities, $861.2ths to trade (except trade in cars
and scooters), and $192.7ths to other sectors of mining industry.
In January-June 2006, Russia made the third largest investments in
Armenia’s economy after Lebanon and Greece.
A total of 589 enterprises with Russian capital are currently
registered in Armenia, about 300 of them actively working. P.T. -0–

COMUNITA’ ARMENA SOTTO CHOC, TURCO ROVINA MOSTRA SU GENOCIDIO ; ROVINATI ANCHE I PANNELLI DELL’ESPOSIZIONE DEDICATI AI PAPI ROMA

ANSA Notiziario Generale in Italiano
November 5, 2006

(ANSA) – ROMA, 5 NOV – La comunita armena italiana e sotto choc. Un
giovane turco stamattina ha fatto irruzione nel teatro di Varallo
Sesia (Vercelli), dove era in corso l inaugurazione di una mostra
sul genocidio armeno seminando il panico.

Ad un certo punto e piombato in sala un energumeno che urlava come
un ossesso in turco, prendendo a calci i pannelli della mostra,
rovesciando i libri sul genocidio armeno, spintonando persino delle
signore ha raccontato Pietro Kuciukian, curatore dell esposizione
dedicata allo sterminio che agli inizi del secolo scorso costo la
vita ad un milione e mezzo di armeni cristiani.

Tra i pannelli che il giovane turco ha distrutto ce ne sono due che
riguardano i papi: uno dedicato a Benedetto XV, il primo capo di
Stato che nel 1915 cerco di fermare il massacro appellandosi all
imperatore ottomano dell epoca e l altro al viaggio che fece Papa
Wojtyla in Armenia nel 2002.

La polizia fortunatamente e subito intervenuta e lo ha portato via. Piu
tardi il sindaco mi ha detto che il ragazzo di nazionalita turca vive
a Varallo Sesia da un paio d anni, ha sposato una italiana e gestisce
un negozio di doner kebab ha affermato Kuciukian, sottolineando che
episodi del genere, cosi gravi, non sono mai accaduti in Italia. In
Francia si , tanto che e proprio per questo che il parlamento francese
ha varato una legge per punire i negazionisti che non riconoscono il
genocidio. In diverse citta francesi gruppi di giovani Lupi Grigi
hanno imbrattato monumenti e cose del genere. Cio che e capitato
a Varallo Sesia non e un bel segnale. Non so se e un fatto isolato
oppure, se questo ragazzo e stato istigato da qualcuno. Il dubbio
resta . La mostra di Kuciukian sta girando varie citta italiane e
dovrebbe a breve essere portata a Roma.

Ora il teatro e presidiato dalla polizia. (ANSA).

COMMON GRAVE FOUND IN ON OF TURKISH VILLAGES MIGHT BE THE CEMETERY OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS

Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 7 2006

Turkish gendarmes have ordered the residents of one of the villages
to keep silent about a community grave found on October 17, which
might be a cemetery of Armenian Genocide victims. According to the
Kurdish "Ulkede Ozgur Gundem" newspaper, when digging a grave for
one of their relatives, residents of Kserabebaba village found a cave
full of bones and skulls of about 40 people. The villagers suggested
this was the grave of about 300 Armenian dwellers of Kserabebaba, who
fell victims of the 1915 genocide. They applied the Police Department
of Ankara. Turkish Army Officers ordered to close the entry to the
cave and keep silent about the Armenian remnants revealed in the
village. They assured that investigation would be launched on the
case. However, the Kurdish paper informs that Turkish Police tried
to conceal the information. Journalists were not allowed to enter
the cave. The village dwellers were instructed not to show the way
to the cavern.

RA GOVERNMENT SHOULD TAKE THE FREEDOM HOUSE REMARKS SERIOUSLY

Public Radio, Armenia
Nov 8 2006

The Armenian Government should take the remarks of the Freedom House
advocacy organization seriously, representative of the Millennium
Challenge Corporation in Armenia Alex Rusin told the journalists. He
reminded that the means provided in the framework of the Millennium
Challenge Program are meant for poor countries and take as a basis
the indices of independent organizations like the Freedom House.

"Despite the fact that Armenia has been fit for the program ever
since 2004, it should keep the proper characteristics during the
whole course of the grant program, Mr. Rusin noted. Besides, the
indices are expected to improve. Every year the Directorate of the
Millennium Challenge Corporation, chaired by the Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, gives new evaluation to the fitness indices.

"Currently Armenia is fit for receiving financing in 2007. However,
some indices, particularly the political ones that tend to fall, are
worrisome," the representative of the Corporation noted. He noted
that conduct of free and fair elections in 2007 will considerably
improve the political indices. If the elections are held improperly,
it will have a negative impact on the indices, which will in its turn
result in the disqualification of the country.