On April 19 the Georgian parliament unanimously ratified a decision to cancel the agreement on sea and land transfer of military facilities through its territory executed with Russia in 2006. The Georgian president Sahakashvili recommended the parliament to do this. The term of the Georgian-Russian agreement would finish in autumn of this year.
Armenia’s reaction on this decision was very fast because it is directly connected with Armenia’s security. Since the ceasefire in the war between Karabakh and Azerbaijan the Russian military bases were allocated in Armenia by the recommendation of the Armenian authorities of those times because of the national security of Armenia and being a part of the same air protection security system with Russia. In the situation when the conflict of Karabakh is not solved this decision on part of Georgia is viewed as a threat to Armenia’s security because the Armenian army receives armaments mostly from Russia. For the last time Russia applied to Georgia to transport goods through its territory in 2008, and after being refused Russia has not applied to Georgia so far. However, last year Armenia brought U-300 protection systems from Russia, which was transported through Georgia’s territory. Last year Sahakashvili visited Armenia and president Sargsyan granted him a medal of honor. There were opinions that this was a present to the Georgian president for agreeing to transport the security systems through their territory. There are opinions that this decision on part of Georgia is America’s response to the growing Russian presence in Armenia. Last week the Armenian parliament ratified the bill on prolonging the agreement on allocation of Russian armed forces in Armenia. The other copy of this agreement is now being discussed by the Russian Duma. There are also opinions that the announcement the US Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch made last week saying that Armenia cannot apply for receiving support from the Millennium Challenges corporation because it does not comply with a number of criteria related to elections, good governance, and other requirements of the corporation. According to these experts, with these two steps the US expressed their opinion to the issue of the growing Russian military presence in Armenia, especially taking into account the fact that during those days there was a large Armenian-Russian inter-regional cooperation conference in Armenia.
We asked politicians and experts what the role of the Russian-American relations had in relation to the mentioned decision. “In relation to every issue, which concerns small countries, where the super-states have interests too, such things may happen. It is possible that this may be a result of some disagreements concerning some points in the Russian-American relations. Both the US and Russia, and also Turkey have their interests in Armenia. All these things should be taken into account,” says RPA vice-president Razmik Zohrabyan.
Ruben Mehrabyan, expert of the Armenian Center of Political and International Studies, says that the decision of the Georgian parliament first of all is based on their national interests and their understanding of security in the region. “This decision was expected and it shows that the security doctrine of Yerevan is not so clear,” says R.Mehrabyan.
Anyway, what is the solution? It is very important for Armenia’s security because in these conditions of armed competition in the region and the frozen conflict of Karabakh the Russian military support to Armenia is essential. Even if it is possible to organize such transfer through Georgia’s territory, it will be very expensive and difficult. “It is a very nice question, but we don’t have the answer to it. It is another reason why we should revise our understanding of security in order not to be faced with such problems which depend on third parties. They had to think about this before, when they were making an agreement on the presence of Russian armed forces in Armenia for almost a half century. Generally, where is the key to Armenia’s security? I think there are three preconditions for this. First, Armenia should have a legitimate authority, professional army which complies with the requirements of the 21st century and also a very responsible foreign policy targeted at finding solutions of co-living with the neighbors in secure conditions,” says R. Mehrabyan.
During those days the defense minister of Georgia was in Armenia. Definitely this issue was discussed during meetings with the Armenian authorities too. It is interesting to know what compromises the US and Georgia expect from Armenia for allowing to transfer armaments through their territory again. R.Zohrabyan thinks that negotiations are in process in confidential conditions. “This decision was adopted at the time when the Georgian defense minister was in Armenia. This is one of those important issues that were on the table of negotiations of the Armenian and Georgian military authorities. Based on the fact that there are no complaints on part of official Yerevan, we may assume that some solutions have been found,” says R. Mehrabyan.