Armenian Defense Ministry as Press Service of Russian Federation"s Base No 102

Yerevan/07/11/13/Turan-Arminfo: The Armenian Defense Ministry disavowed the scandalous statement by the commander of the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia, Colonel Andrei Ruzinsky that this base would go to war if Azerbaijan decides to restore control over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ruzinsky's scandalous statement was made in an interview with the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda on October 10. Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov asked the representative of Russia in the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov to explain the remarks of the Colonel.

However, rather than representatives of Russia, the disturbance of Baku was responded by the Armenian Defense Ministry. Thus, the spokesman for the Defense Ministry of Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan wrote on his page that "the military-political leadership of Armenia have repeatedly stated that on the issue of withstanding Azerbaijan's aggression they do not see the need to involve the CSTO and Russia."

"The capacities of the Armed Forces of Armenia are more than sufficient to perform any mission. Membership in the CSTO and the Armenian-Russian military cooperation is aimed at preventing possible aggression from a third country," he writes.

Next Hovhannisian responds to the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan that Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty, as well as Resolution 5 on the Russian military base in Armenia signed in August 2010, assume the protection of Armenia from external attacks. -02D-