Armenia Rearms Army Taking into Account War in Karabakh

Baku/23.02.21/Turan: Armenia is reforming the army after the hostilities in Karabakh, optimizing the numerical strength of the army, switching to new systems of weapons and military equipment, Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan said in an interview with RIA.

“Our Russian colleagues are directly involved in this process,” said Harutyunyan.

"Taking into account the combat experience and well-known events in Karabakh, we will radically revise the issue of optimizing the combat and numerical strength by increasing the combat component; re-equipping with new complexes and weapons systems in priority areas; maintaining human resources, increasing the staffing level of officers, civil servants and contract servicemen," said Harutyunyan.

The main efforts will be focused on the development of command and control systems, intelligence, electronic warfare, air defense and unmanned aircraft, missile forces and artillery.

On January 25-30, a representative delegation of the RF Ministry of Defense was in Armenia to provide assistance on the issues of reforming and modernizing the Armenian Armed Forces.

"Based on the results of the joint work, recommendations were developed on further actions and measures within the framework of the modernization of the Armenian armed forces, and a serious emphasis is placed on the military-technical side," the Minister said.

Commenting on the idea of ​​placing a second Russian military base in Armenia, the Minister said there is no such need. At the same time, Yerevan and Moscow are working on the issue of the possibility of redeploying a certain military formation of the 102nd Russian military base to the east of Armenia, Harutyunyan noted.

"It is probably more correct to talk about the possibility of redeploying any military formation from the Russian military base (taking into account its expansion) to the eastern direction of Armenia, and in this context, a corresponding joint study of the issue is underway," the Minister said.

Besides, in his words, additional functions are assigned to the Russian border guards in Armenia. "Indeed, the Russian border guards are entrusted with additional functions to ensure the security and protection of the border of the Republic of Armenia with Azerbaijan.

In Gyumri, Shirak region of Armenia, in accordance with the interstate agreement of 1995, a Russian military base is deployed. In 2010, changes were made to the document, according to which the period of its stay was extended from the initial 25 years to 49 years, until 2044.     -02D-