RA MOD Head: If Baku Wants to Engage in Arms Race, Yerevan Can Respond

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia has asked the US to correct a perceived imbalance between military aid to that country and to its former adversary and neighbor, Azerbaijan, Armenia's Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan has told Jane's Defense Weekly. US law requires equal amounts from the primary US security assistance program, Foreign Military Financing (FMF), to go to Azerbaijan and Armenia. However, in light of the seven-year, USD80 million Caspian Guard maritime security initiative that the US has established in Azerbaijan, Armenia believes it should get a comparably large program, said Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan. Sargsyan met US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on 28 October and raised the issue, but did not request a specific type of aid. "Of course it is very desirable to have another program to even the scales, and it would be fair," he said. "If parity is disturbed even by USD50,000 in advantage to Azerbaijan, this may be viewed as an encouragement to that country." Sargsyan said he met with several members of Congress who assured him that the FMF parity would be maintained in the Fiscal Year 2006 defense budget now being completed by Congress.



Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Commander Joe Carpenter confirmed that Rumsfeld and Sargsyan discussed security co-operation issues but would not comment further. Caspian Guard is a program intended build up the maritime surveillance, command-and-control and quick-reaction abilities of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan around the Caspian Sea. Although Armenia is landlocked, Armenian officials worry that US aid to Azerbaijan could allow Baku to spend its limited resources on building up military forces in other parts of the country, such as near Armenia. The two countries fought in the early 1990s over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Sargsyan said that Armenia did not see a rising threat from Azerbaijan and said that if Baku wanted to engage in an arms race, Yerevan could respond but that it would come at the cost of Armenia's economy. The US has recently completed an assessment of Armenia's armed forces and by the end of November is expected to deliver its findings to the Armenian government. Sargsyan said that some of the reforms that are expected to come out of the assessment are a new national security strategy document and a concomitant military doctrine, reformed budget processes, increasing the number of civilians in the defense establishment and divestment of unnecessary bases and other infrastructure. Armenia also plans to stand up a full peacekeeping brigade by 2010 and has asked the US for assistance. Armenia has small peacekeeping contingents in

Iraq and Kosovo.



"The Secretary expressed appreciation on Armenia's contributions to stabilization operations in Iraq and peacekeeping in Kosovo. These contributions have been helpful," Lt Cdr Carpenter said. Armenia will host a NATO medical and rescue exercise in 2006, but the list of participants is not complete. In 2004 NATO cancelled an exercise in Azerbaijan because of that country's refusal to allow Armenian forces to

participate.