Armenia denies giving US permission to use its airstrips

The Russia Journal
Apr 30, 2004, 23:59 (Moscow time)

Armenia denies giving US permission to use its airstrips

DEFENSE :: Apr 30, 2004 Posted: 15:10 Moscow time (11:10 GMT)

YEREVAN – Reports that the United States Air Force has arranged to use
Armenian airbases are false, Col. Seyran Shakhsuvaranian, press secretary of
Armenia’s Defense Ministry, declared Thursday in a statement responding to
reports carried by local media citing the American STRATFOR research center.

The colonel said the agreement reached during the visit to Armenia of Gen.
Charles F. Wald, deputy commander of US forces in Europe, did not include
provisions for basing US warplanes on Armenian bases. ‘The actual aim of the
agreement has to do with the provision of supplies and technical services
between the two sides when one or the other requests it and at the option of
the other in view of its policies and priorities,’ his statement said.

According to the STRATFOR account, agreement was reached during Wald’s visit
on April 25-26 to allow US military airplanes to land at Armenian airports.
It called the agreement part of an effort to isolate Armenia from Russia and
Iran. /Rosbalt/