Russia to Prolong Military Presence in Armenia

Deal to Be Signed During Medvedev Visit to Yerevan

YEREVAN (Reuters)— On Aug. 18, Armenia announced it had agreed to extend the lease on a Russian military base in the south Caucasus country until 2044, strengthening Moscow’s military presence in the strategic region.

Russian soldiers in South Ossetia

The deal will be signed during a visit to Yerevan by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Aug. 19 and 20.

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian confirmed the lease extension in an interview with Rossiya-24 television.

It will prolong for decades Russia’s military presence in Armenia, its chief strategic and economic ally in a region criss-crossed by pipelines carrying Central Asian and Caspian oil and gas to Europe.

The Russian military also has troops in two breakaway regions of neighboring Georgia, where it is building up bases in the wake of a five-day war over rebel South Ossetia in 2008.

Russia and Armenia signed a deal in 1995 allowing the Russian base in the town of Gyumri on Armenia’s closed western border with Turkey to operate for 25 years. Nalbandian said the changes would extend that deal to 49 years from 1995.

He said the deal would spell out that the Russian base would help secure the landlocked country of 3.2 million people, where the specter of renewed conflict with oil-producing Azerbaijan over rebel Nagorno-Karabagh is never far away.

“And in realizing those goals, the Russian side will assist in providing Armenia with weapons and modern military equipment,” Nalbandian said. Some in the Armenian opposition have complained the deal undermines the country’s independence.

Russia has several thousand soldiers in Gyumri, who help patrol Armenia’s western border with NATO-member Turkey. Ankara closed the frontier in 1993 in solidarity with close Muslim ally Azerbaijan during the war over Nagorno-Karabagh.

Russia is part of a mediating group including France and the United States trying for the past 15 years, without success, to forge a peace deal.

Although it has traditionally enjoyed close relations with Armenia, Russia has sought in recent years to develop ties with Azerbaijan as it vies with the West for access to energy reserves in the Caspian Sea.

(Reporting by Steve Gutterman, Matt Robinson, and Hasmik Mkrtchyan; writing by Matt Robinson; editing by Janet Lawrence)

16 Comments

  1. Despite what our self-destructive Russophobic peasantry in the Diaspora think, I can now sleep better knowing that our border with Turkey is properly protected. The Russian-Armenian alliance in the Caucasus is the last front against pan-Turkism, NATO expansionism, American imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism.
     
    God bless Mother Russia, God bless our homeland!

  2. The diaspora Armenian (and most I believe) agrees with you. We should remember that as recently as 1993, Russia came to Armenia’s defense when Turkey massed troops at the border and threatened invasion

  3. Putting aside the Bolshevik era (a time period in which ethnic Russians suffered by far the worst fate) Russian-Armenian relations have been close. As a matter of fact the single most important geopolitical factor in our ability to establish a state in the volatile Caucasus was, is and will continue being Russia. From the times of Israel Ori and David Bek to our independence movements of the late 19th century, from the establishment of Soviet Armenia to the modern defense of Armenia and Artsakh – our northern orthodox brothers have been with us side-by-side.
     
     

  4. I can’t say Russians were angels in their history (nobody was anyway), but given the hostile environment we live in, I couldn’t have asked for anything other than a Russian-Armenian alliance against Turkey and Azerbaijan. Apart from the resilience of the Armenian people, if there’s anything that helped Armenians have a state and not end up like, for instance, the Assyrians, it was the Russian Empire.

  5. Avetis,
     
    Whatever you have to say, do please say it in a moderate, balanced way. There are many intellectual midgets anywhere where the Armenians live regardless the parts of the world, and to call the Diaspora Armenians “self-destructive Russophobic peasantry” does you no credit. It’s condescending and rude, I’m afraid. Such a view doesn’t take into account the reality of social conditions and timeframe in which these people lived and which shaped their world view. Such a view is also denigrating the massive support that the Diaspora Armenians have provided and continue to lend to Armenia, Artsakh, and the Armenian Cause.
     
    I’d also urge you not to use such sublime slogans as “Mother” Russia or God bless “our homeland.” You call the Diaspora Armenians “peasants”, but by such indecent expressions you actually demonstrate your own provincialism, I’m afraid, in that Armenians like you tend to glorify everything foreign more than their own. Russia in no way is our “Mother,” and in no way is “our Homeland” (if, of course, you meant Russia, not Armenia, by that). Our Homeland is the Republic of Armenia, Artsakh, and historical Western Armenia. While all of us understand the importance of Russia’s geopolitical factor in establishing or supporting a new Armenian state, please do not overestimate Moscow’s motives and intentions: they’re in no way Armenophilic per se, but derive from Russia’ own interests in the broader region. Whenever these interests change, Moscow won’t have a double thought in reorienting its foreign policy and national security priorities towards the same Azerbaijan or Turkey. Yes, we should be thankful to God for having Russia as a strategic partner at this juncture, but we should similarly understand the fact that this strategic partnership serves, first and foremost, Russia’s own interests.
     
    As for your inroads into the history, to the times of Israel Ori and David Bek and our independence movements of the late 19th century, there are very many instances when Russia abandoned Armenians following her own national interests. Leaving Armenians face to face before the hordes of bloodthirsty Turks in 1915 or signing treaties with the Allies and the Turks abandoning Armenia’s ancestral lands or issuing decrees took Artsakh from Armenians and put the region under the Azerbaijani jurisdiction are just a few of them.
     
    This said, I agree that we should thank God for having Russia as a strategic partner at this historical juncture.

  6. mjm, I don’t know what your homeland is but my homeland is Armenia. And Armenia exists today because of Russia. Of course Russia is following her interests, its stupid to even mention it. However, Russia’s interests for the past three centuries has been to have a close partnership, or a foothold, in Armenia. This has been a geopolitical blessing for Armenia especially considering the Turkic/Islamic nature of the Caucasus. Moreover, I urge you to rediscover nuances of history. Russia never abandoned Armenia. Those that abandoned Armenia were anti-Russian Bolsheviks, the ones that destroyed the Russian Empire from within. Had it not been for the Jew-led Western-funded Bolshevik revolution Armenia’s borders today would have stretched as far West as Van and Erzrum at the very least. I urge you to stop watching the History Channel to get your information about world history. This said, I repeat that a vast majority of Armenians today (regardless of their wealth and education) have the mentality of self-destructive peasants. If you are not one of them, you will one day come to this realization as well.

  7. Avetis,
    More than once, elements in the Kremlin tried to pass as resolution to annex Armenia. Russia like Turkey sees its former empirical territories as theirs. You have to look at things from their perspective and view of the world to understand their motives. Armenia needs to be as self-reliant as possible and the diaspora should help in this regard.

  8. Ummm…didn’t Russia play a major role as part of the triage of force exerting pressure on Armenia to sign those ludicrous protocols?????
     
    I can still visualize that little sneaky Lavrov in the background grinning as the protocols were signed in Brussels on that most disturbing day.
     
    Do “northern brothers” really force your hand into making a deal with the Devil of all devils?



    Save your petty pledges of allegiance for the retired KGB crowd Avetis.
     
    “God Bless Mother Russia”? Hardly. They are in the same category as the spineless Americans and the backstabbing Europeans. Whether you like it or not Avetis jun, we too can be opportunists as well no?
     
    If its in their “best interests” to have a “foothold in Armenia” as you proudly claim and if WE ALLOW THEM to gain this foothold in Armenia then I’m sure they wont mind if the majority of us don’t think highly of them. After all, if they don’t like our attitude they can gain a foothold somewhere else and find a different method of pursuing their interests…
     
    Armenia knows well that Russia’s favors come at a cost. And we pay those costs most of the time through the nose. And if we don’t pay for some of their favors, like still allowing their military presence in Armenia with this latest signing — rest assured its mutually beneficial.
     
    So they ain’t doing us any favors as much as you would like to think they are is my point. Got it? Good!

  9. Avetis, you don’t have to react so ruthlessly to different opinions or make generalizations about “the vast majority of Armenians being peasants” or call a person whom you don’t know “stupid.” I hope you don’t have fundamental disorders in your psyche to do this unnecessary stuff. As for your homeland, didn’t you read my post? I said in parentheses:  “ if, of course, [by our Homeland] you meant Russia, not Armenia”, because in your previous post it wasn’t clear what land you called your homeland. That “Russia is following her interests” wasn’t likewise clear from your previous post, so consider expressing your thoughts in a more articulate fashion. On the contrary, people got an idea reading it that Russia maintained friendship with Armenia for “beautiful Armenian eyes,” which is, by far, not the case.
     
    As an area expert by profession who has no incentive to watch the History Channel, I’d also like to denounce your statement that “Russia’s interests for the past three centuries have been to have a close partnership, or a foothold, in Armenia.” First, “partnership” and “foothold” are divergently different notions with “partnership” presupposing equal representation in mutually beneficial relationship, whereas foothold “means a firm or secure position that provides a base for further advancement.” In politico-military sense, “foothold” refers to unequal representation in bilateral dealings with relationships more similar to patron-client relations. With this in mind, it’s simply not quite true that starting 1828 (I hope this date of annexation of Eastern Armenia by Russia based on the Treaty of Turkmenchay you had in mind when you mentioned “three centuries,” well, roughly three centuries) Russian factor has been” a geopolitical blessing for Armenia especially considering the Turkic/Islamic nature of the Caucasus.” There have been many downturns with Czar Alexander persecuting the Armenians and confiscating the Armenian property; Russian government having plans to inhabit Western Armenian lands with Cossaks in the aftermath of Russo-Turkish wars; Russian government’s policies at Russification of Eastern Armenians; or Czar Nicholas government’s advising Western Armenians to rise up against the Turks ultimately leaving us all together alone before the hordes of advancing Turks, etc.
     
    It’s all also not quite true that “Russia never abandoned Armenia” during the tremulous times of the Russian Revolution. Essentially, it doesn’t matter who were the Russian leaders at the time: “anti-Russian Bolsheviks” or “the Jew-led Western-funded Bolsheviks.” They represented Russian revolutionary or transition force and then the official Russian government and the decisions with regard to Armenia and Armenians were taken in their transitional and official capacity. You sound like on commentator in these pages who just can’t retire convincing us that perpetrators of the Armenian genocide were not ethnic Turks, but crypto-Jews. But, regardless, they represented the official government of Ottoman Turkey at the time of genocide. The same with Russia: Bolsheviks or not, they represented Russia and the Russian nation. Allow me to remind you here that long before the Bolshevik overturn, various Russian Czars considered depopulation of Western Armenian lands and their re-population with Don and Kuban Cossaks. Therefore, to suggest with confidence that “Armenia’s borders today would have stretched as far West as Van and Erzrum at the very least” is immature and unsubstantiated. You may want to look into this chapter of history which, I believe, you otherwise demonstrate to know brilliantly.
     
    It is condescending and arrogant to suggest that “a vast majority of Armenians today have the mentality of self-destructive peasants.” I certainly don’t have such people in my midst. If you meant to say that any nation in its majority is not comprised of highly-educated, erudite, and cosmopolitan individuals, you’d be probably right. Unfortunately, provincial-minded, self-centered persons constitute the majority of virtually of any nation. And Armenians are not an exception. It’s advisable in these cases to look at the brightest side: that there is a qualitative minority in our nation and the Armenian nation itself has many accomplishments that it’s contributed to the world civilization and can take pride of.

  10. mjm,
     
    I am not going to get into verbal gymnastics with a person interested only with arguing. If what you wrote is reflective of your “area expert” profession – I’m not impressed. I suggest you spend more time studying geopolitics and the last years of the Russian Empire. Armenian-Russian relations is an alliance brought upon by natural tendencies between the two fraternal peoples and it will come to fruition despite the self-destructive peasantry.

  11. “…or Czar Nicholas government’s advising Western Armenians to rise up against the Turks ultimately leaving us all together alone before the hordes of advancing Turks, etc.”

    Ah, truth slips occasionally…  Russians are at fault!  I have heard a similar line from some Greek friends.  British left them alone in front of Turks apparently and that is why they lost and had to cut their ethnic cleansing and brutal occupation short, bringing an end to the Greek civilization in Asia Minor… No one likes to look at a mirror.

    It is a shame that so many Armenians would rather nurse their hate and victomhood as a backwater and a neglected outpost of the Russian empire rather than engage their neighbors constructively.  Irony is, Armenians have probably a lot more in common culturally with Muslim Turks than with Putin’s Russians.

    • That is not true, we don’t have anything in common with Muslim Turks. They are a Central Asian people who invaded and stole our land and culture. They pretend to be similar to us just to drive a wedge between Armenia and Russia. If they had a lot in common with us, then they would not feel threatened by our schools and places of worship, but above all, our people. So stop spreading nonsense.

  12. Murat, what’s your mission in these pages? To track down what this or that Armenian commentator has said and make use of it in a twisted way for your unrepentant nation? So far I haven’t seen any elaborate position of yours on any issue: just cowardly bites, picking, and needling and then hiding when you meet well-articulated arguments. Is this all that your intellectual ability might offer?
     
    That Czar Nicholas government tacitly advised Western Armenians to rise up against the Turks to facilitate the Russian advances into the area doesn’t mean that Armenians bought this and actually organized tidily-mobilized uprising against the Ottoman Turks. If I’m mistaken, prove me wrong in any literature that there’s ever been any all-national uprising of Armenians against the Ottoman regime. There’s no need for the Armenians to look at a mirror because national liberation struggle of many colonized ancient peoples, including the Greeks, from Turkish yoke was widespread in the late 19th early 20th century. As much as you understand Kemal’s war of independence, why can’t you understand how much more longing for independence were indigenous peoples who were enslaved by the nomadic Turks? Because Kemal’s war was “yours” and other nations’ independence struggle was “theirs”? Is this the limit of your intellectual prowess?
     
    Look at yourselves in the mirror and don’t give us this bull*** about “shame” for Armenians that “nurse hate and victimhood.” Millions of innocent men, women, children, and the elders that were butchered by your barbarian forefathers, mutilated, burnt and buried alive, raped and starved to death had nothing to do with being “a neglected outpost” of the Russian empire because none of them ever rised up against the Ottoman government as a result of Russian instigations. They were murdered because they belonged to a particular ethnic and religious group that the CUP government wished to exterminate to homogenize your Muslim nation: read committed the genocide. You know this and yet you give us “shame” for no fault of our part while remaining silent about the genocidal extermination of millions of ancient Christian peoples: Greeks, Assyrians, and especially the Armenians, that your nation has committed thus confirming the name that the world uses when typifying the Turks: “barbarian Turks.”
     
    Look at yourself in a mirror, and tell yourself if mass annihilation of human beings is not more of a “shame” than practically nothing that the Armenians have done to your nation whether or not instigated by the Russians. Shame on you and your barbarian state of murderers, rapists, and hangmen!
     
    Lastly, Christian, and thus more western-minded and more western culture-oriented Armenians by definition have MUCH more cultural affinity with the Russians than with backward Muslim Turks. Remember this and don’t make yourself a laughingstock ever again.

  13. The New York Tribune told its readers in the year 1919:
    the Turks have always been a parasite and a stench in the nostrils of civilization
     
    David Lloyd George former British Prime Minister said in 1914 that:
    The Turks are a human cancer, a creeping agony in the flesh of the lands which they misgovern, rotting every fibre of life … I am glad that the Turk is to be called to a final account for his long record of infamy against humanity.

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