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Aliyev: Higher Defense Spending Linked To Relocation of Rus. Weapons

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  • Aliyev: Higher Defense Spending Linked To Relocation of Rus. Weapons

    Associated Press Worldstream

    June 25, 2005 Saturday 8:01 AM Eastern Time

    INTERNATIONAL NEWS

    Europe; Britian; Scandinavia; Middle East; Africa; India; Asia; England

    Azerbaijan's president says higher defense spending linked to
    relocation of Russian weapons

    BAKU, Azerbaijan


    President Ilham Aliev said Saturday that the ex-Soviet Caspian Sea
    nation was increasing its defense spending in response to the
    relocation of Russian weapons from Georgia to Azerbaijan's rival,
    Armenia.

    Even though Moscow said weapons would remain under Russian military
    control and would not be turned over to Armenia, the redeployment
    "requires adequate steps," Aliev said in a speech before military
    school graduates.

    "We have undertaken such steps, having increased our military
    spending, which will continue to grow in the future," Aliev said. He
    said Azerbaijan's military spending was set to increase from US$175
    million in 2004 to US$300 million this year.

    "Our army is the strongest in the Southern Caucasus," Aliev said. "We
    have achieved superiority and will continue to strengthen it."

    Azerbaijan is locked in a tense dispute with neighboring Armenia over
    the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The mountainous region inside
    Azerbaijan has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the
    early 1990s, following fighting that killed an estimated 30,000
    people.

    A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave's final political
    status has not been determined and shooting breaks out frequently
    between the two sides, which face off across a demilitarized buffer
    zone.

    Russia said it had redeploy the weaponry to Armenia under pressure to
    speed up its military withdrawal from Georgia. Despite Russian
    assurances that the move wouldn't destabilize the region, Azerbaijan
    has remained strongly critical of the relocation.

    Aliev also said Saturday that Azerbaijan will also work to strengthen
    its relations with NATO.

    Azerbaijan has taken part in NATO's Partnership for Peace program and
    it has presented a plan that would further foster cooperation with
    the alliance, "bringing Azerbaijan-NATO relations to a new level,"
    Aliev said.
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