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Russia, Armenia successfully implementing treaty on joint forces, says defense chief

The Russian defense chief Sergey Shoigu also congratulated his Armenian counterpart and the entire Armenian people on the state holiday, Republic Day

MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu and his Armenian counterpart Vagharshak Harutyunyan held a working meeting in Moscow on Friday.

"We are strengthening our military interaction both in the bilateral format and within the framework of international structures, first of all, the CSTO [the Collective Security Treaty Organization], Shoigu said while opening the working meeting.

As the Russian defense chief pointed out, the sides "are successfully implementing the agreements on establishing the joint group of troops of our armed forces and also the joint regional air defense system in the Caucasian collective security region."

Shoigu stressed that "the operation of the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia, which we consider as an important factor of providing regional security, is an indicator of the high level of bilateral cooperation."

The Russian defense chief congratulated Harutyunyan and the entire Armenian people on the state holiday, Republic Day.

"I want to congratulate you on the national holiday, which the entire republic is celebrating today and on this day you have found it possible to come to Moscow. This suggests that the relationships between our countries are at a very high level and we continue fostering and deepening our strategic partnership," Shoigu said.

The Russian defense minister recalled that high-level Armenian military delegations traditionally participated in major events of Russia’s Defense Ministry.

"We will be glad to see you at the 9th Moscow conference on international security that will take place in June," he said.

"In August-September, we are expecting representatives of the Republic of Armenia to attend the International Army Games and the Army-2021 international military and technical forum," Shoigu said.

Regional security issues

The Russian defense chief also suggested discussing regional security issues.

"We will discuss regional security issues related to the operation of the peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh and, undoubtedly, all the acute problems that have emerged by now," Shoigu said.

"Today we will discuss all the issues of our cooperation, which is developing very successfully, in my opinion," Harutyunyan said.

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