Russia not saying it will defend Armenia against Azerbaijan - Kremlin source

Thu 02 September 2010 12:00 GMT | 17:00 Local Time

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Dmitriy Medvedev

Talks about military cooperation are on the agenda for Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev's visit to Azerbaijan on 2-3 September.

"Military and technical cooperation will be discussed," an unnamed Kremlin source told Interfax news agency.

The source did not say whether the planned sale to Azerbaijan of S-300 air defence systems would be discussed.

Asked whether there were plans to address the recent extension of the term of the Russian military base in Armenia, the source said the Russian side was not planning to raise the issue.

"The Azerbaijani side has not expressed special dissatisfaction with it. Of course, they are worried about the balance of power, but we have full military and technical cooperation with Azerbaijan. In addition, Armenia has signed a supplement to the protocol on the protection of borders, rather than on military and technical cooperation. And we are not saying there that we will defend Armenia against Azerbaijan. Strictly speaking, Nagorno-Karabakh is not the territory of Armenia," the source said.

At the same time, the Kremlin source said that Russia had to balance between the interests of Azerbaijan and Armenia, which could be seen in President Medvedev's visit to both countries. The source said the agreement on the date of the visit to Azerbaijan was reached long before the visit to Armenia.

The Kremlin spokesman said the main issue for Azerbaijan was not the Russian military base in Gyumri and the powers of the Russian military, but a Karabakh settlement.

"We believe and this is our subjective opinion, which may not coincide with the Azerbaijani or Armenian opinion, that there is  still progress. First, we manage to continue to work towards a political solution, and, second, we are able to gradually move toward the normalization of bilateral relations," the source said.

 

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