Armenian Parliament ratifies agreement on air defence

At an extraordinary session, Armenian MPs have ratified the Armenian-Russian agreement on unified air defence system by majority of votes. 102 MPs voted in support of the system, and eight others voted against it.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 23, 2015, the agreement on creation of the unified regional air defence system in the Caucasus was signed by Sergey Shoigu and Seiran Oganyan, Ministers of Defence of Russia and Armenia, respectively.

The discussion of the agreement took place against the background of the protests held by the activists who disagreed with the Armenian authorities' opinion that the ratification of the document would strengthen the country's defence potential.

Independent MPs claimed the formal nature of the military cooperation between the two countries and expressed their doubts that Yerevan would be able to maintain the control over armed forces. On June 29, most of the parliamentary factions positively assessed the prospects of the Armenian-Russian air defence system. The MPs have emphasized that the country needs additional means of defence. Members of the opposition "Heritage" Party spoke against the unified air defence system and stated that the agreement is beneficial primarily for Russia.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.