Duma ratifies protocol to treaty on Russian base in Armenia
By Ivan Novikov
ITAR-TASS News Agency
November 23, 2004 Tuesday 4:59 AM Eastern Time
MOSCOW, November 23 — The Russian State Duma has unanimously ratified
at its plenary meeting on Tuesday the Protocol on introducing changes
in the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of
Armenia on the Russian military base on the territory of Armenia. The
protocol was signed on November 11, 2003.
The ratification of the protocol “will make it possible to bring the
Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia on
the Russian military base to conformity with the letter and spirit of
the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between
Russia and Armenia as of August 29, 1997,” First Deputy Head of the
Main Department of International Military Cooperation of the Russian
Defence Ministry Albert Druzhinin said, presenting this document
to deputies.
Druzhinin stressed that “the presence of the Russian military base
in Armenia is dictated by military-political interests of Russia and
its striving to stabilize the situation in the region.”
The Armenian side ratified the protocol on April 28, 2004.