The Armenian-Russian military alliance reinforced by several dozen international agreements of a strategic nature and mutual allied obligations is the axis of ensuring the external security of the Republic of Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the National Assembly.
“The Armenian-Russian joint military grouping and the joint Armenian-Russian air defense system in the Caucasus Collective Security Region are of practical importance for Armenia’s security. By the logic of the agreements formed by these two systems, an attack on Armenia means an attack on Russia, the two countries must jointly face external challenges,” the Prime Minister stated.
In this context, he said the large-scale process of reforms in the Armed Forces of Armenia has started, which will include structural and substantive reforms.
“In the strategic perspective, we look to seriously discuss the transition to a professional army, and we should be able to significantly change the structure of military service or conscription.”
“We hope to discuss the issue of enriching the capabilities of the Russian 102nd military base in Armenia. We have quite effective discussions with our Russian counterparts on the establishment of a base in Syunik region. The Minister of Defense has already stated. Russian border guards also take part in the protection of the state border of Armenia in a number of parts of Syunik region,” he said.
“In the strategic perspective, we envisage that the protection of the parts of the state border of Armenia, which are carried out by the Armenian Armed Forces, will be assigned to the border guards, and the army units will deal exclusively with issues of combat readiness and combat effectiveness, “Pashinyan added.
The Prime Minister noted that the Defense Army will continue to protect the security of Artsakh together with the Russian peacekeeping forces, and there will not be much change in this respect.
“The armed forces must be in their permanent locations during non-war situations. They must be engaged exclusively in combat training 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all working days of the month,” Nikol Pashinyan stated.
