YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan) — "I have no idea about illegal arms supplies to Armenia," Russian Ambassador to Armenia Andrey Ournov said commenting on a statement by the Russian Minister for Cooperation with CIS Aman Tuleyev.
Last Friday Tuleyev made a statement–regarding "illegal arms supplies to Armenia." Segodnya newspaper published his statement–whereby he accused ex-Foreign Minister of Russia Andrey Kozyrev and former Chief of the Russian General Headquarters Mikhail Kolesnikov of illegal arms supplies to Armenia.
Andrei Urnov reported that arms supplied to Armenia are designated for the Russian military bases. He said that all arms supplies are carried out in accordance with the existing agreemen’s.
Asked how the aforementioned statement by the Russian official may reflect on Russia-Azerbaijan relations–Urnov noted that there have been certain positive shifts in relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. For us it is important to maintain friendly relations with all Transcaucasian countries on the condition that the improvement of relations with a certain country is not to be detrimental to our relations with another–the Russian Ambassador stressed. On Saturday Armenia’s Foreign Ministry officially denied Tuleyev’s allegations.
Late Saturday Secretary of the Russian Defense Council Yuri Baburin told Interfax news agency that he had not received any inquiry from Tuleyev. "One should be careful in treating such facts. First it is necessary to check up the facts and then give publicity to them," Baburin said.
He noted that he would be able to comment on these reports only after he receives a relevant inquiry from the minister and scrutinizes all the facts.
