Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta has made an analytic report turning to the deepening of Armenian-Russian military and military-technical cooperation and summing up the results of President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Russia. According to the article, the principal result of the visits of the Armenian president and defence minister to Russia was the progress in the creation of joint military units.

“The level of the military integration between Armenia and Russia is higher than the one between Russia and Azerbaijan. During the meeting with Vladimir Putin, Serzh Sargsyan specifically underscored ‘the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on the joint military units between the two states, as well as the agreement on the Russian-Armenian united regional system of air defense in the Caucasus Region taking into effect’,” the newspaper noted.

The article reports that turning to the Armenian-Russian and Russian-Azerbaijani relations, Lieutenant-General Yuri Netkachev said: “Amid such conditions, it is difficult to imagine that Russia will change its guideline and will back any of the sides during a confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The creation of a joint military unit in the RA is related to neighbouring Turkey, which is a NATO member. In addition to that, Moscow and Yerevan are concerned with the incidents happening Georgia. A number of the regions of that state are inhabited with Armenians. Georgia is more inclined to NATO and threatens Russia's friendly countries. This is an important factor to enhance Moscow’s position in the region.”