YEREVAN (Armenpress)–"Russia is interested in restoring the unified air defense system in the Caucasus," said Sergey Nikolayev–chairman of Russia’s State Duma’s committee on defense issues during a meeting Monday in Moscow with an Armenian parliament delegation–led by Vahan Hovanessian–chairman of Armenian parliament committee on defense–interior and national security issues.
"We are interested in restoring the unified system for securing the borders of the Caucasian region–including Armenia–Azerbaijan and Georgia," underlined Nikolayev completing his talks with the Armenian delegation.
Nikolayev said the meeting showed that both sides were unanimous regarding the necessity for further Russian-Armenian military cooperation. "Russia has not supplied any weapons to Armenia’since 1993–since Russia’s strategic interests must be taken into account in the framework of multilateral defense and security cooperation. This was stressed to our Armenian partners during the meeting," said Nikolayev to Itar-Tass after the meeting.
"After presidential elections–I hope Russia will declare its strategic interests publicly–and Russia’s policy in the Caucasus will become more balanced," said Nikolayev.