Russian TV profiles military base in Armenia
Channel One TV, Moscow
3 Apr 04
[Presenter] Here is a report by our special correspondent, Roman
Babayan, at the 102nd Russian base in Armenia.
[Correspondent] A small Armenian village a few kilometres from the
Turkish border. As the crow flies, it is no more than six kilometres
from here to the first Turkish border posts. You will now see how the
officers and soldiers prepare to put a battery of the Kub
anti-aircraft missile system and the well-known S-300 launcher on
combat duty. [Passage omitted]
The S-300 missile system was deployed on Armenian territory nearly two
years ago. If aircraft of the Turkish air force previously appeared on
the state border with Armenia systematically, then after the S-300
units appeared here the number of their overflights dropped
sharply. [Passage omitted]
Turkey is a member of NATO and, according to the Russian military, has
kept a major aviation group on the border with Armenia for many years
– nearly 300 aircraft, including AWACS reconnaissance aircraft and
regiments of fighter aviation. But in spite of this, the command of
the Russian base is convinced that, if the need arises, just an S-300
battery and MiG-29 aircraft from the aviation group which is based at
the military airfield near Yerevan will be sufficient to repulse any
attack.
The Russian military base was deployed on the territory of Armenia as
early as 1996, and moreover, the bilateral treaty states that the
Russian military will be here for 25 years, but both before and now
the Armenian authorities have been saying that if need be this
timeframe can be reviewed, and exclusively in the direction of
prolongation.