Month: June 2005

Shaw to Play Hans Christian Andersen
By MICHAEL KUCHWARA
.c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) – She’s already played Shakespeare’s tragic Richard II,
as well as the title character in a memorable production of
“Medea,” so Hans Christian Andersen should be a cinch.
Fiona Shaw will portray the Danish author of some of the world’s most
beloved children’s stories in “My Life As a Fairy Tale,” having its
world premiere this summer at Lincoln Center Festival 2005.
The production, conceived and directed by Chen Shi-Zheng, will play
the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College July 27, 29 and 30.
The all-female cast also includes Blair Brown, Mia Maestro, Mary Lou
Rosato and Qian Yi.
For tickets, call CenterCharge, 212-721-6500, or go online at
.
Off-Broadway ticket availability and capsule reviews of selected
shows as of June 13. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are available at
the theaters’ box offices for the shows listed. Details about how to
obtain tickets – including by calling the box office, Telecharge or
Ticketmaster – appear at the end.
“Altar Boyz.” An exuberant, good-natured musical spoof about a
Christian boy band. Dodger Stages. Telecharge.
“Beast on the Moon.” A tale of Armenian immigrants in America after
World War I. A play by Richard Kalinoski. Century Center. Telecharge.
“Blue Man Group.” They paint each other. They paint the audience.
They unroll toilet paper. Foreign tourists love this long-running new
vaudeville show. Astor Place. Ticketmaster.
“Cookin’.” Four Korean chefs prepare a banquet under deadline
pressure. A lot of slicing and dicing. Minetta Lane. Ticketmaster.
“Drumstruck.” An evening of drumming from South Africa. And the
audience gets to participate. Dodger Stages. Telecharge.
“Hurlyburly.” The New Group’s masterful production of David Rabe’s
look at LA show biz types. The cast includes Ethan Hawke, Wallace
Shawn and Josh Hamilton. 37 Arts. Ticketmaster. Closes July 2.
“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” The mildest of musical
revues about relationships between men and women. Westside Theatre
Upstairs. Telecharge.
“Jewtopia.” A gentile wants to marry a nice Jewish girl. A comedy
written by and starring Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson. Westside
Downstairs. Telecharge.
“Lazer Vaudeville.” Vaudeville isn’t dead. Its juggling, acrobatics
and comedy have just gone high-tech. Lamb’s. Telecharge.
“Manuscript.” Three young people’s desperate search for fame. A
play by Paul Grellong. The cast includes Jeffrey Carlson, Pablo
Schreiber and Marin Ireland. Daryl Roth. Telecharge.
“Menopause. The Musical.” Women and their change of life – in song.
Playhouse 91. Ticketmaster.
“Naked Boys Singing.” A musical revue. The title says it all. Plays
Fridays and Saturday. Julia Miles. Telecharge.
“Orson’s Shadow.” Laurence Olivier meets Orson Welles in this
intriguing fictional re-creation by Austin Pendleton. Barrow Street.
Telecharge.
“Slava’s Snowshow.” The Russian clown from Cirque du Soleil brings
his latest entertainment to New York. Union Square. Ticketmaster.
“Stomp.” A noisy yet effective celebration of percussion in this
long-running new vaudeville revue. Orpheum. Ticketmaster.
“Terrorism.” Fear takes a toll on everyday life. A play by Vladimir
and Oleg Presnyakov. A New Group co-production. Clurman on Theatre
Row. Ticket Central. 212-279-4200. Closes June 26.
“The Awesome ’80s Prom.” An interactive high school prom musical
set in the 1980s. Friday and Saturday evenings. Webster Hall.
212-352-3101.
“The Cherry Orchard.” A revival of the Chekhov classic in a new
adaptation by Tom Donaghy. Atlantic Theater Company. Telecharge.
“The Musical of Musicals.” A delightful spoof of musical-theater
songwriting styles. Among the authors tweaked are Andrew Lloyd
Webber, Rodgers and Hammerstein and, of course, Stephen Sondheim.
Dodger Stages. Telecharge.
“The Paris Letter.” Ron Rifkin stars in Jon Robin Baitz’s play
about a powerful investment counselor confronted by secrets from his
past. A Roundabout Theatre Company production. Laura Pels.
212-719-1300.
“Thom Pain (based on nothing).” James Urbaniak stars in a monologue
by Will Eno about an ordinary man and his existentialist anxieties.
DR2 Theatre. Telecharge. Engagement extended through Sept. 4.
Difficult.
“Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story.” A musical version of one
of the most infamous crimes of the last century. York Theatre Company
at St. Peter’s. Smarttix 212-868-4444. Closes June 26.
The Telecharge number is 212-239-6200 unless otherwise indicated.
There is a $6 service charge per ticket, plus a $2.50 handling fee
per order.
Ticketmaster is 212-307-4100. There is a $6 service charge per
ticket, plus a $3 handling fee per order.
Both Telecharge and Ticketmaster will provide information on specific
seat locations. They also have toll-free numbers for theater ticket
calls outside New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. For Telecharge
call 800-432-7250; for Ticketmaster call 800-755-4000.
The TKTS booth in Times Square at Broadway and 47th Street sells
same-day discount tickets to Broadway, off-Broadway, music and dance
productions. There is a $3 service charge per ticket. Cash or
travelers checks only. Hours of operation are Monday through Saturday
evening performances, 3 p.m.-8 p.m.; matinees Wednesday and Saturday,
10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
The downtown TKTS booth is in the South Street Seaport at the corner
of Front and John Streets. Hours of operation are Monday through
Friday 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Matinee tickets must be purchased at South Street Seaport the day
before, meaning Wednesday matinee tickets are available Tuesday,
Saturday matinee tickets are available Friday and Sunday matinee
tickets are available Saturday.
Full-price tickets and information on Broadway and off-Broadway shows
are available at the Broadway Ticket Center, located on the east side
of Broadway between 46th Street and 47th Street. There is a $4.50
service charge per ticket.
For 24-hour information on theater, dance and music performances in
New York’s five boroughs, call the Theater Development Fund’s New
York City-On Stage, 212-768-1818.
06/13/05 14:07 EDT

CSTO chief to meet Armenian president
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 14, 2005 Tuesday
MOSCOW, June 14
Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation
(CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha will fly to the Armenian capital Yerevan on
Tuesday on a working visit.
He will hold talks on the state of affairs in the Collective Security
Treaty Organisation, as well as on issues to be put on the agenda of
the forthcoming CSTO session.
The press service of the CSTO Secretariat told Itar-Tass, “In the
course of his trip to the Republic of Armenia CSTO Secretary General
Nikolai Bordyuzha will inform Armenian President Robert Kocharyan of
the state of affairs in the organisation.” According to the Secretariat
official, Bordyuzha “also plans to meet the defence minister –
secretary of the Security Council under the Armenian president.”
“The main purpose of the trip is to inform President Kocharyan
and other top-ranking officials of the state of affairs in the
organisation, consider issues to be put on the agenda of the CSTO
session – the supreme CSTO body, due in the second half of June,
as well as meetings of charter bodies – the Council of Foreign and
Defence Ministers and the Committee of Security Council Secretaries,”
Bordyuzha said on Monday. “Armenia is one of the most active CSTO
participants,” he stressed.
In the view of Bordyuzha, Armenia’s activity is effective in all CSTO
spheres. The Caucasian (Russian-Armenian) coalition troops (forces)
group of the CSTO is a considerable component of the organisation’s
force. Armenia takes an active part in combating new challenges
and threats.
The working trip of the CSTO chief will last for three days. The
session of the Collective Security Council and a meeting of charter
bodies of the CSTO are planned to be held in Moscow on June 22-23.
CSTO participants are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia and Tajikistan.

Baltic News Service
June 13, 2005
INTL COMMUNITY SHOULD BE MORE INVOLVED IN SOLVING MOUNTAIN KARBAKH
CONFLICT — LITHUANIA’S PARLT CHAIR
VILNIUS, Jun 13
Lithuania could encourage the international community to increase
its involvement in solving the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict over the
Mountain Karabakh region.
This idea was voiced at a press conference at the parliament on
Tuesday by Parliamentary Speaker Arturas Paulauskas, who had been
paying an official visit to South Caucasus countries last week.
“Only rendering the solution of this problem international can bring
around some improvement. This might be an international mission,
international observers. Obviously, today the two countries are
unable to reach the right solution,” Paulauskas said and added that
a concrete position may be formulated after a meeting with Foreign
Minister Antanas Valionis.
Valionis has been delegated to the government by the New Union (the
Social Liberals) led by the parliamentary speaker.
There is an ongoing military conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia
over Mountain Karabakh, a large Azerbaijan region dominated by ethnic
Armenians. The 1988-1994 war over the disputed territory claimed the
lives of over 35,000 people. There is only a fragile truce between
Armenia and Azerbaijan at the front line in Mountain Karabakh, still
occupied by Armenia.
Paulauskas told the press conference that the initiative of cooperation
with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia under formula 3+3, involving
Latvia and Estonia might offer some prospects.
“I saw that this project needed support. This might not happen today,
but this project is prospective,” he said.
Having become a full-fledged member of the EU and NATO last year,
Lithuania is seeking to convey its experience of Euro-Atlantic
integration to South Caucasus countries, however so far only Azerbaijan
and Georgia have declared pro-western orientation.
Armenia tends to relate its future with Russia, which has established
military bases in the country.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG (SDA)
SDA – Service de base francais
14 juin 2005
Developpement Visite de deputes turcs en Suisse Tentative
d’apaisement sur fond de question armenienne
Berne (ats) La Suisse et la Turquie jouent la carte de l’apaisement
après les remous provoques par la question armenienne. Le voyage
prevu par Joseph Deiss en Turquie aura bien lieu debut septembre, a
assure le chef d’une delegation du parlement turc.
“La resolution de la question armenienne n’est pas une condition
fixee par la Suisse” a de bonnes relations avec la Turquie, s’est
felicite le chef de la delegation de la commission de politique
exterieure du parlement turc Mehmet Dulger mardi soir devant la
presse a Berne.
“Oui, nous avons une sensibilite particulière sur la question
armenienne”, a-t-il toutefois reconnu, ajoutant qu'”il n’est pas
facile d’entendre nos grands-pères se faire traiter de criminels”.
Les massacres commis entre 1915 et 1917 par le pouvoir ottoman contre
les Armeniens sont au coeur d’une controverse entre Ankara et
l’Occident. D’après Ankara, il s’agissait d’une repression dans un
contexte de guerre civile. Selon les Armeniens, 1,5 million des leurs
ont ete tues au cours des massacres, que plusieurs pays ont
officiellement reconnus comme “genocide”.
En Suisse, le Conseil National a reconnu en 2003 le genocide
armenien, suscitant les vives protestations d’Ankara. Au niveau
cantonal, le genocide a ete reconnu par les autorites genevoises
(Conseil d’Etat et parlement) et par le Grand Conseil vaudois.
Vers une “commission Bergier” turque ?
Mardi, les elus turcs ont notamment rencontre les conseillers
federaux Micheline Calmy-Rey et Joseph Deiss, ainsi que les
presidents des Chambres federales Therèse Meyer et Bruno Frick. Les
deux parties “sont convenus de la necessite d’un travail d’analyse
historique des evenements tragiques de l’epoque”, selon communique
des services du parlement suisse.
Les parlementaires turcs ont notamment ete sensibles a l’experience
vecue par la Suisse quant a son passe durant la IIe guerre mondiale
et a la “solution apportee” par la creation de la commission
independantes d’experts, ont-ils fait savoir.
La delegation turque a egalement recu des explications “qui l’ont
satisfaite”, indique le parlement, après l’ouverture par la justice
suisse d’une enquete pour violation de la norme anti-raciste visant
l’historien turc Yusuf Halacoglu. Ce dernier se serait rendu coupable
de negation du genocide armenien lors d’un discours tenu en mai 2004
a Winterthour.
Les representants turcs ont pris note de ce qu’il s’agit d’une
procedure dictee par la Constitution mais qui n’entrave en rien les
mouvements de l’historien. Les questions relatives au sujet n’ont
toutefois pas manque de susciter une certaine nervosite lors de la
conference de presse.
La delegation, forte de cinq membres, a entame sa visite lundi et
sejourne en Suisse jusqu’a vendredi. Elle doit rencontrer notamment
notamment des representants de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce
(OMC), du Haut Commissariat pour les refugies (HCR) et du monde
economique, a Genève et a Zurich.
Elle repond a la visite d’une delegation de la Commission de
politique exterieure du Conseil des Etats qui s’etait rendue en
Turquie en septembre dernier.
Tensions multiples
La question armenienne a contribue a tendre les rapports entre Berne
et Ankara. Après la reconnaissance du genocide armenien par le
Conseil national, une visite de Mme Calmy-Rey prevue en septembre
2003 a ete annulee par la Turquie. Il a fallu attendre mars 2005 pour
que ce deplacement puisse avoir lieu.
Le ministre turc du commerce exterieur Kursad Tuzmen a ensuite annule
une visite qu’il devait effectuer fin juin en Suisse. Selon la presse
de son pays, le ministre a voulu manifester sa mauvaise humeur contre
l’enquete ouverte a l’egard de Yusuf Halacoglu.
–Boundary_(ID_IoGpNipFjMuOfAOS+9hxUA)–

Russia to support Karabakh solution suitable to all parties
By Yelena Starkova
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 14, 2005 Tuesday
MOSCOW, June 14 — Russia is ready to support that option of resolving
the Nagorno Karabakh problem which will suit all the parties involved,
and act as a guarantor of settlement, if a compromise is reached,
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said on Tuesday.
“We oppose against the pressing of any recipes from the outside on the
parties to the conflict, and assume that the Azerbaijanis and Armenians
bear the main responsibility for a final choice,” Yakovenko said.
In his view, a solution of the problem will be viable if it brings
back stability and quiet to Transcaucasia, and helps preserve the
geopolitical balance of forces in the post-conflict period, preventing
the region from becoming an area of international political and
military rivalry.
The spokesman noted that the Russian Foreign Ministry gives a positive
valuation to the results of the recent meeting between the Azerbaijani
and Armenian presidents in Warsaw in May 2005, which gave an impulse
to the search for the soonest political settlement of the Karabakh
conflict.

Russian materiel relocation to Armenia won’t endanger Azerbaijan
By Alexander Konovalov, Sergei Babkin
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 14, 2005 Tuesday
DATMOSCOW, June 14 — The relocation of Russian military hardware from
Georgia to Armenia will not change the balance of regional forces
or endanger Azerbaijan, Russian Chief of Staff Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky
said in answer to an Itar-Tass question after negotiations with his
Italian counterpart Gianpaolo di Paola.
“Baku should not worry about the relocation of some Russian military
hardware from Georgia to Armenia. As I have said before, the tight
schedule of the Russian military bases’ withdrawal from Georgia
may require the relocation of some military hardware to the 102nd
Russian military base in Gyumri, Armenia. The military hardware will be
stationed at the base, but it will not change the balance of regional
forces in compliance with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in
Europe and will not endanger our neighbor – Azerbaijan,” he said.

Armenia among most active in CSTO
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 14, 2005 Tuesday
MOSCOW, June 14 — Nikolai Bordyuzha, the secretary-general of
the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), who arrived in
Yerevan on Tuesday, will inform the Armenian leaders about the state
of affairs in the Organization, Tass learned from the CSTO secretariat.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian will receive Nikolai Bordyuzha.
The CSTO secretary-general will hold talks with Serzh Sarkisian,
the Armenian defence minister and secretary of the Security Council
at the Armenian president,
The sides will discuss questions being referred to the session of
the Collective Security Council, the supreme body of the CSTO, to be
held in the second half of June, and to the meetings of the Foreign
Ministers Council, the Defence Ministers Council and the Security
Councils Secretaries Committee.
Bordyuzha said the other day that “Armenia is one of the most active
participants in the OSCE”, and that the Transcaucasian (Russo-Armenian)
coalition group of forces is “a sizable part of the Organization’s
forces.” Bordyuzha will be on the visit in Armenia for three days.
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan are
participants in the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
June 14, 2005, Tuesday
09:23:53 Central European Time
Hungarian parliament alters minority law after abuses
Budapest
The Hungarian parliament voted Monday evening by an overwhelming
majority to change the existing law governing minorities to make
abuses more difficult, Hungarian radio reported Tuesday.
According to the new law, only those entitled to vote and who had
previously registered in their local community as a member of a
particular minority could vote, in elections for self-administered
ethnic districts.
Hungary has 13 autonomous ethic groups, the largest of which is the
Roma, with an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 members.
Previously any Hungarian citizen could vote in minority district
elections which led to abuses such as anti-Roma Hungarians voting in
Roma districts to prevent true representation of the Roma.
Other abuses have included failed politicians posing as members of
“exotic” minorities such as the Armenians to gain election.

Karabakh parliamentary elections illegal – Azerbaijan
By Sevindzh Abdullayeva, Viktor Shulman
ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 14, 2005 Tuesday 2:38 PM Eastern Time
BAKU, June 14 — The June 19 ‘parliamentary elections’ in
Nagorno-Karabakh “to be held against the background of an occupation of
territories and ethnic cleansing contradict the norms and principles
of the international law and the constitution of Azerbaijan and are
illegal,” says a Tuesday statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
This action of the Armenian side “does not correspond to the spirit
of the Karabakh settlement negotiations, which have recently given
hope for positive tendencies,” the ministry said. “It is impossible
to achieve lasting peace without normalization, peaceful co-existence
and cooperation between the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities
in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Azerbaijani Republic,” the
ministry said.
Azerbaijan supports the international appeals for direct contacts
between the communities and comprehensive confidence-building measures
aimed at the prevention of feud and the achievement of stability and
mutual understanding, the ministry said.
“The dialog between the communities will promote relations between
Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijanis returning to places of their
permanent residence and create prerequisites for the involvement of
all strata of the population into the legal, peaceful and democratic
process, including the establishment of legitimate regional authorities
of any level,” the ministry said.

Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
June 14, 2005, Tuesday
IN THE CONTEXT OF REGIONAL SECURITY PROBLEMS
SOURCE: Voyenno-Promyshlenny Kurier, No. 20, June 8-14, 2005, p. 10
by Sergei Minasyan – director of the Regional Security & South
Caucasus Integration Studies Center at the Russian-Armenian (Slavic)
State University
The process of military integration between CIS states has gradually
spread onto three levels: in the framework of the CIS, in the CST
format and on the bilateral basis. Since the very beginning Armenia
and Russia have been the most active and consistent adherents to the
military-political cooperation between CIS states. It turned out by
the late 1990s, that given ultimately opposite goals and tasks in the
security sphere of various CIS states, their military-political
cooperation proved to be inefficient. Simultaneously, certainty was
growing in Russia (…) that the future of this system could only be
in the framework of the CST and bilateral military-political contacts
between Russia and CST member countries.
Decisions passed at the Collective Security Council summit in Yerevan
(May 2001) proved to be a milestone event in the development of
military integration inside the CST, including consolidation of
Armenian-Russian military-political contacts. Attained was an
agreement on forming a regional bilateral group of forces in the
Caucasian direction. This combined group was supposed to include
units of the 102nd Russian Base in Armenia and units of the 5th Corps
of the Armenian Army. (…)
Summing up results of the present-day state and prospects of the
Armenian-Russian cooperation for development of military-political
integration in the post-Soviet defense area, it should be noted that
joint staff command and field exercises are held annually, which
unite all CSTO states and are conducted on a bilateral basis, for
instance the annual Russian-Armenian exercises at the Armavir
training ground.
A great deal of intergovernmental or interdepartmental treaties and
agreements concluded in 1992, makes the basis for the bilateral
Russian-Armenian military-political cooperation. The major part of
those treaties concerned division of military property of the former
Soviet Army units, stationed in Armenia, as well as the status of the
Russian Armed Forces in the republic. Under these agreements, Armenia
received the arms and military equipment of the 164th Mechanized
Infantry Division (MID) and the 15th MID, formerly parts of the 7th
Guard Army of the former Trans-Caucasian Military District, stationed
in Armenia; the 3rd division of the 7th Guard Army – the 127th MID
stationed in Pomri remained under control of Russia and was
transformed into the 102nd Military Base of the Russian Group of
Forces in the Caucasus (GRVZ) in 1995. Units of the former
Trans-Caucasian Border District in Armenia entered the Armenia group
of troops of the Russian Federal Border Service. At the same time,
the sides jointly finance the Russian border guards who protect the
Armenian border on Iran and Turkey. A number of bilateral agreements
reached in 1992-1995, including the Treaty on the Russian military
base in Armenia signed in Moscow on March 16, 1995, set the legal
basis for restructuring Russia’s military presence in Armenia.
However, the so-called “Big Treaty” – the Treaty on friendship,
cooperation and reciprocal defense, concluded on August 27, 1997,
became the major document regulating the bilateral military-political
cooperation.
Thus, the Russian forces stationed in Armenia now (in Gyumri,
Yerevan, and the Erebuni military airfield) include: the Combat
Management Group of the Russian Forces in Armenia, the 102nd Military
Base, the 426th Aviation Group and the 520th Aviation Command. The
Armenia group of the Russian border troops consists of four border
units. Overall, the Russian forces have 74 T-72 tanks, 17 BTR
vehicles, 129 infantry fighting vehicles, 84 artillery systems, 18
MiG-29 fighters, 2 batteries of S-300V antiaircraft missile systems,
a battery of Kub antiaircraft missile systems. Personnel strength
exceeds 3,500.
Military-technical cooperation is the most significant aspect of the
bilateral strategic partnership. In the division of Soviet military
munitions in 1992-1996, Russia handed over a certain amount of arms
and military equipment to Armenia.
No official reports on deliveries of Russia-made weapons to Armenia
have appeared since the second half of the 1990s. As is widely known,
the Russian-Armenian military-technical cooperation (MTC) mainly
includes supplies of spare parts by defense enterprises of both
states, rather than supplies of the finished military products. The
Russian-Armenian MTC has been underway since 1993, and is now being
carried out in the framework of the Interstate Military-Economic
Cooperation Commission between CIS States. The MTC with the Republic
of Armenia was suspended under Russian president’s Decree No. 623-rps
of September 9, 1993, in compliance with the UN Security Council
Resolution No. 853 on Nagorny Karabakh. Armenia wasn’t included into
the list of states to which deliveries of Russia-made military
products were permitted. In this connection, military supplies to
Armenia could solely be performed on the basis of Russian president’s
decisions. Putin signed the decree on terms of resuming supplies of
spare parts for the Russian military industrial complex from
Armenia’s defense enterprises, primarily equipment for the nuclear
powered submarines and S-300 antiaircraft missile systems, only in
December 2000. Only during his latest visit to Armenia in May 2004,
Russian defense minister declared the purchase of two Il-76 military
transports by Armenia and Russia’s assistance in upgrading the
available and purchasing new antiaircraft systems for the Armenian
army.
Cooperation in the sphere of air defense is a prior sphere of
Russian-Armenian MTC. This proceeds from availability of a serious
threat posed by the Turkish Air Force, to which the limited air
defense system of Armenia cannot resist at its present level without
the aid of Russia. The Air Defense Forces of Armenia have a certain
number of antiaircraft missile systems requiring upgrade, which
cannot be done without the aid of Russia. Besides, confined territory
of Armenia doesn’t allow space for a training ground. Therefore,
involvement in the joint air defense exercises is important for
Armenia. Unlike in other forces, the majority of Armenian air defense
officers are trained at Russian institutions of higher education.
Significant has been integration of automated control systems and
command posts of the Armenian Air & Air Defense Forces with similar
Russian systems, in particular those of the North Caucasian Military
District (SKVO). The joint combat duty of the air and air defense
forces began on April 15, 1999. In case of tension in the region,
this group could be replenished at the expense of the Russian Air
Defense Forces and deployment as extra air defense units of Armenia.
The latest S-300V air defense systems affiliated with the 102nd Base
of Russia joined combat duty in October 2001. This enabled raising
efficiency of control in the airspace above Armenia.
Creation of a joint Russian-Armenian group of forces is a significant
element in the bilateral cooperation. Its creation, the annual joint
exercises conducted at the Armavir training ground and have no
analogs in the post-Soviet area (by their regularity and number of
participants they were the biggest in the former Soviet area until
the start of 2000), and the general level of military cooperation
indicate that at the moment Russia has no as close military-political
cooperation as to Armenia (even with Belarus).
(…) The role of Russia’s military presence in the cause of ensuring
Armenia’s security goes beyond the presence of Russian military bases
on its territory. Comparison of quantitative parameters shows that
even the combined Russian-Armenian forces in Armenia yield
considerably to the armed forces in the neighboring states.
Article 2 of the Protocol on forming and functioning of the forces
and means of the Collective Security System of CSTO member states
says that in case of aggression against any of the sides collective
security groups of a certain region could be involved in repulsing an
aggression in another collective security region at request of a
single or several sides, under articles 4 and 6 of the CST. This
enables a suggestion that in case of an imminent threat of aggression
into Armenia, which is a CSTO member country, Russia will take all
the measures required to strengthen its troops to give the necessary
aid its ally needs to retaliate an aggression.
It is not a secret though that none of the CIS states, but for
Russia, is able to repulse threats autonomously in case of a
large-scale aggression. In similar circumstances the problem of
so-called “nuclear guarantees” on behalf of Russia for ensuring their
national security is of crucial significance for all CSTO member
countries. The main conceptual documents of Russia indicate Russia
resigns to itself the right for use of nuclear weapons in case of
aggression against Russia and its allies. The clauses of Russia’s
military doctrine which concern Russia’s readiness to use nuclear
weapons against the states which don’t have nuclear weapons, “in case
they attack the Russian Federation, the Russian Armed Forces or other
troops, its allies or a state with which it has security commitments,
maintained or supported by such a state, which doesn’t possess
nuclear weapons, jointly or in the availability of alliance
commitments to a state which possesses nuclear weapons,” becomes of
prior significance for CSTO member states, including Armenia.
It should be noted that along with active development of geopolitical
processes in the post-Soviet territory, experts both in Russia and
Armenia are casting doubt on the efficiency and conformity of the
military-political cooperation to their national interests. Russian
military experts maintain that in the context of potential withdrawal
of the Russian military bases from Georgia, the Russian group of
forces in Armenia might be disconnected from Russia operationally and
in the communications sphere, which would create serious problems for
its fighting efficiency and even normal functioning. A recent story
involving the ban for A-50 AWACS planes to fly above the territory of
Georgia to Armenia, which has affected the interaction of the Russian
and Armenian air defense forces, has been an evident example of this.
Moscow is quite cautious for Armenia’s more active attempt of
integration in the EU and NATO, expanding military cooperation
between Armenia and NATO, especially the USA, and is unwilling to
regard these actions as an objective necessity, which is to a great
extent caused by reduced influence of Russia in the region and
Yerevan’s wish to avert jeopardy to its national interests.
On the other hand, opinions are expressed in Armenia that the
Armenia-Russian military cooperation is no more a sufficient
guarantee for the country’s security and alternative security sources
must be sought in the West. Besides, Yerevan is confident that taking
actions in the region, as well as relations with Azerbaijan, Turkey,
and Iran, Moscow doesn’t fully account for economic and political
concerns of its major ally in the South Caucasus. In particular,
Armenia has serious fears regarding the plans of Russia on
large-scale supplies of arms and military equipment to Azerbaijan,
which is perceived by Yerevan as unwillingness of Moscow to account
for threats to security of its CSTO ally.
In spite of these problems, both Armenia and Russia realize that the
achieved level of bilateral military-political cooperation, which has
no analogs in the CIS and envisages quite real leverage for aiding in
crucial situations, is the only solution for both states in the
medium-term outlook. According to many experts, (…) active
Russian-Armenian partnership in the framework of CSTO defense
structures and their bilateral military partnership, which has
sufficient institutional and legal basis, are the major elements of
regional security and stability in the South Caucasus.
ORIGINAL-LANGUAGE: RUSSIAN