DEFENCE OFFICIAL SAYS ARMENIA INTERESTED IN BUYING BELARUSIAN ARMS

Belapan news agency, Minsk
Oct 11 2005

Minsk, 10 October: A top Armenian defence official has said that the
country's army is interested in buying certain types of weaponry
in service with Belarusian units and Belarusian-designed military
hardware.

While talking to reporters in Minsk on Monday [10 October], Armenia's
deputy defence minister, Col-Gen Mikayel Arutyunyan, said that his
country's government is examining the price and performance of the
equipment.

The official arrived in Belarus on a three-day visit earlier in
the day.

General Arutyunyan noted that his talks with Syarhey Hurulyow, the
Belarusian army's chief of general staff, focused on the situation
inside the Collective Security Treaty Organization of which both
countries are members.

The Armenian official stressed that his country is interested in
studying Belarusian army training practices and command principles,
military reform and weapons modernization projects.

Preparations for a visit by Belarusian Defence Minister Leanid Maltsaw
to Armenia later this year were also discussed.

While in Belarus the Armenian delegation is to visit the Military
Academy and the 120th Guards Detached Mechanized Brigade.