Yerevan, June 8 (UNI) Yerevan is not discussing the issue of hosting a military base with any country, Armenian Parliament speaker Alen Simonyan told reporters on Friday, commenting on the Russian side’s concerns about Armenia’s security cooperation with the West.
“Stop threatening us and talking about the Collective Security Treaty Organization. When they talk about the CSTO, let them say where the CSTO border is, and what obligations exist both as a partner in the CSTO and as a party to the Armenian-Russian treaty. Armenia is not holding talks with either party, not discussing the deployment of any military base or joining any strategic alliance,” Simonyan said.
The 102nd Russian military base is deployed in Armenia. The air component of this base in Gyumri is also the Erebuni airbase, stationed in Yerevan. The border department of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in Armenia serves in accordance with the Russia-Armenia agreement “On the status of the border troops of the Russian Federation stationed on the territory of the Republic of Armenia and the conditions of their operation” dated September 30, 1992.
The Armenian authorities have repeatedly said they plan to diversify sources of arms supplies and are interested in deepening defense industry cooperation with France and India. In early March, the secretary of the Armenian Security Council reported that Russia’s share in Armenia’s defense industry cooperation with other countries had decreased from 96% to less than 10%.
