Defense Minsiters of Armenia and Russia Discussed Security Issues

• 08.16.2016, 11:52
•  Region,  World,  Armenia

Russian and Armenian Defense Ministers Sergey Shoigu and Seyran Ohanyan discussed at the talks in Yerevan on Tuesday security in the Trans-Caucasus region and bilateral military cooperation, TASS reports.

"I think we can discuss today the issues of security in the region and military-technical cooperation," Shoigu said at the meeting. "The agenda is very dynamic, a large number of events is planned." He expressed readiness to consider additional steps to increase the number of Armenian servicemen trained in the Russian Defense Ministry’s higher education institutions free of charge.

"All this is envisaged by our plan one way or another, which we adjust quite regularly taking into account the developments and the changing situation in the region," Shoigu said.

He added that the Russian Defense Ministry welcomed Yerevan's invitation to hold bilateral talks and take part in the meeting of the Defense Ministers’ Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member-countries. "Thank you for the warm welcome," the Russian minister said. "This is another opportunity to talk about our relations in the bilateral format and in the format of collective organizations, particularly, the CSTO."

For his part, RA Defense Minister Ohanyan emphasized that such bilateral meetings "provide a unique opportunity to discuss current issues and development of relations in the military and technical spheres." In his view, these relations are at a very high level.

"We implement all scheduled plans in the bilateral and multilateral formats," Ohanyan said. "We have good relations with the 102nd Russian military base, we plan and carry out in practice all mutual actions. Our relations within the CSTO are developing dynamically as well." He added that during a meeting of the Russian and Armenian military delegations on Tuesday they will discuss issues related to security in the region and mutual development areas.