Vahan Shirkhanyan is against Armenia’s demanding an annual pay
ment for Russian military bases in the Republic of Armenia.
The subject of the discussions in the Armenian press in recent days has become the issue of the Russian 102nd military base in the Republic of Armenia. It is interesting that figures who thought inappropriate to raise such small issues in intergovernmental relations before have started to speak of an annual payment for locating the base.
Yesterday, Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) member Artur Aghabekyan, the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, referring to the issue whether the Russian military base in the Republic of Armenia was relevant, said during an interview given to a website, “Russia must necessarily pay for having a military base here. At the same time, one can talk more certainly about the significance of this base for the Republic of Armenia only after assessing the significance of the military base for Russia’s security system. Only in that case will it be clear how profitable and for whose protection the existence of the Russian military base is more profitable.” Let us observe that in the context of profitability, the existence of the Russian military base in the Republic of Armenia becomes more urgent after publishing a “leak” by Russian “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”. The newspaper published information on what Russia intends to do when Israel attacks Iran. As the main platform for the Russian actions, the article mentioned the 102nd military base located in Armenia. Referring to its sources at the ministry of internal affairs, the newspaper informed that the Russian authorities were quickly improving military forces in South Caucasus, the Caspian, Mediterranean and Black Seas. According to this publication, in October-November 2011, the Russian 102nd military base in Armenia was completely optimized. The families of servicemen were transferred to Russia and the Russian garrison near Yerevan was diminished, the units located there were transferred to Gyumri, near the Turkish border. The US attacks on Iranian objects are expected exactly from the Turkish territory. It is also said that the Russian bases located in South Ossetia and Abkhazia had been brought into a state of military readiness since December 1 – those bases can act on the side of the anti-Iranian forces.
Taking into account the current geopolitical developments, in particular, the events taking place in Syria and Iran, we tried to comprehend during a conversation with former Deputy Defense Minister of the Republic of Armenia Vahan Shirkhanyan how real implementing such scenarios was. “The treaty on the Russian 102nd base with Armenia does not allow using it against Iran as foothold by another force. The treaty doesn’t provide for such a thing and it is impossible by the treaty”, said Mr. Shirkhanyan. According to him, Iran is a friendly country for Armenia, she always helped Armenia in hard situations and Armenia cannot allow her territory to be used as a foothold for attacking Iran.
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As for Mr. Aghabekyan’s notions about annual payment for the existence of the base, Vahan Shirkhanyan reminds that there is another treaty that provides for organizing education of our military students on the territory of the Russian Federation, “And when we compared at the time, while signing, Armenia did not lose a penny, but gained financially. Now I don’t know whether one can pursue such modern, network, I am sorry, worthless things and say anything he wants. They have ideological sponsors who direct those rumors. Well, let’s speak – in turn they will start charging money for our military students. Consequently, it will turn out that Armenia gains 5 drams and loses 25. What smart man would do that?” According to Vahan Shirkhanyan, besides all this, if Armenia defended the Armenian-Turkish border with its military forces, she would spend considerably, incomparably more money, than the communal spending of the Russian military base is, “She would have to buy equipment, weapons, pay for education, keep the barracks ready etc. However, the Russian Federation does all that today.” In response to the observation of “Aravot” why should Russian soldier protect Armenia, if, God forbid, military operations are conducted on that section of the border, the former Deputy Defense Minister said, “The most important issue in all this is the strategic and national security issue. The treaty reads that yes, they must defend that border, if Turkey attacks Armenia. And not only with the forces of the 102nd base, but also with all the military forces of Russia, which have respective plans, in case of such developments. It is all planned, only God knows what the political situation, conjuncture, pressures will be, whether they will do that, according to the treaty, or not.” However, according to Shirkhanyan, it is an obvious fact that the existence of Russia on that border is only a restraining factor, as the events taking place in the Arab world, Turkey-Syria relations increase threats to the Armenian national security. Therefore, Shirkhanyan considers the calls for payments for the Russian military base, voiced today, as provocation against Armenia that is very similar to the situation that took place in the Arab world.
In response to the question of “Aravot” whether Mr. Aghabekyan was a provoker or he was just not aware of the facts mentioned above, Vahan Shirkhanyan said that although the treaty on education had been signed during his being a deputy minister, he didn’t think that Mr. Aghabekyan was unaware of all those subtleties. It was hard for Shirkhanyan to comment on why Mr. Aghabekyan had made such a statement, “It is hard for me to answer whether for party, MP or other reasons.”
NELLY GRIGORYAN
