Editing Armed Forces of Armenia (section)

=== Russia === 
{{See also|Armenia–Russia relations#Military union and cooperation}}
[[File:Vladimir Putin in Armenia, December 2013 (2236-20).jpg|thumb|[[Vladimir Putin]] during his visit to the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia.]]
Russia is one of the closest allies of Armenia. The [[Russian 102nd Military Base]], the former 127th Motor Rifle Division, is stationed in [[Gyumri]]. The military alliance of the two nations and, in particular, the presence of Russian troops on Armenian soil has been a key element of Armenia's national security doctrine since Armenia gained independence in 1991.<ref name="asbarez.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.asbarez.com/2009/12/17/armenia-russia-sign-arms-export-deal-2/|title=Armenia, Russia Sign Arms Export Deal|work=Asbarez News|access-date=24 December 2014|date=17 December 2009|archive-date=23 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091223153057/http://www.asbarez.com/2009/12/17/armenia-russia-sign-arms-export-deal-2/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Russia stations an estimated 5,000 soldiers of all types in Armenia, including 3,000 officially reported to be based at the 102nd Military Base. In 1997, the two countries signed a far-reaching friendship [[treaty]], which calls for mutual assistance in the event of a military threat to either party and allows [[Russian border guard]]s to patrol Armenia's frontiers with [[Turkey]] and [[Iran]]. In early 2005, the 102nd Military Base had 74 tanks, 17 battle infantry vehicles, 148 armored personnel carriers, 84 artillery pieces, 18 [[MiG-29]] fighters, one battery of [[SA-6]] and two batteries of [[SA-10 Grumble|S-300]] anti-aircraft missiles. However, in 2005–2007, following an agreement on the withdrawal of two Russian military bases from Georgia, a great deal of military hardware was moved to the 102nd Base from the Russian [[12th Military Base]] in [[Batumi]] and the 62nd Military Base at [[Akhalkalaki]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]. Russia also supplies weapons at the relatively lower prices of the Russian domestic market as part of a collective security agreement since January 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2003/11/12/51161.html |title=Russian supply |access-date=12 March 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051202115302/http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2003/11/12/51161.html |archive-date=2 December 2005 }}</ref>

According to unconfirmed reports by the Azeri media, Russia has supplied $1&nbsp;billion worth of arms and ammunitions to Armenia in 1996; and handed over an additional $800&nbsp;million worth of arms to Armenia in 2008–2009. According to AzerNews, the weapons in this latest transfer include 21 tanks, 12 armored vehicles, five other battle machines, a great number of rocket launchers, over 1,050 cases of grenades, nearly 7,900 types of ammunition, 120 grenade launchers, over 4,000 sub-machine guns, TNT fuses, mines of various types, 14 mine-launchers, 9 Grad launchers, five cannons, and other weapons.<ref>AzerNews [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706131008/http://www.azernews.az/site/shownews.php?news_id=9867 Russia `donates` $800m arms to Armenia] 14 January 2009</ref>

[[Officer (armed forces)|Officer]] [[Military education and training|training]] is another sphere of Russian-Armenian military cooperation. In the first years of [[sovereignty]] when Armenia lacked a military educational establishment of its own, officers of its army were trained in [[Russia]]. Even now when Armenia has a military [[college]] on its own territory, the Armenian officer [[corps]] honors the tradition and is trained at Russian military educational establishments. In 1997, 600 Armenian servicemen were being trained at Russian Military Academies: the training was conducted by the Marshal Bagramyan Training Brigade.<ref>Ministry of Defence of Armenia, [http://www.mil.am/eng/?page=11 Official Web Site]</ref>

At the first meeting of the joint Russian-Armenian government panel for military-technical cooperation that took place during autumn 2005, Prime Minister [[Mikhail Fradkov]] reported that, Russian factories will participate in the Armenian program of military modernization, and that Russia is prepared to supply the necessary spare parts and equipment. In accordance with this agreement, Armenia and Russia agreed to work together in exporting weapons and other military equipment to third countries in December 2009. The export agreement was signed by Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and a visiting senior Russian official, Konstantin Biryulin, during a meeting of a Russian-Armenian inter-governmental commission on bilateral military-technical cooperation. The agreement envisages the two countries' interaction in exporting military production to third countries, which will help to strengthen the armed forces of the two states, and further cement the already close Russian–Armenian military cooperation.<ref name="asbarez.com"/>

A Russian-Armenian defense agreement signed in August 2010 extends Russia's military presence in Armenia till 2044 and commits Russia to supplying Armenia with modern and compatible weaponry and special military hardware at reduced prices.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/2200677.html|title=Armenia 'Unfazed' By Azerbaijan's Growing Military Spending|work=«Ազատ Եվրոպա/Ազատություն» ռադիոկայան|date=26 October 2010 |access-date=24 December 2014 |last1=Harutyunyan |first1=Sargis }}</ref>

At the beginning of 2009, Azerbaijani media published allegations that Russia had made extensive weapons transfers to Armenia throughout 2008 costing about $800&nbsp;million. On 12 January 2009, the Russian ambassador was invited to the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Azerbaijan)|Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] and asked about this information. On 21 January 2009, Russian ministry of foreign relations officially denied the transfers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://day.az/news/politics/144560.html|title=МИД России опроверг информацию о поставках Армении российского оружия на $800 млн.|date=21 January 2009|work=DAY.AZ|access-date=24 December 2014}}</ref> According to [[United States diplomatic cables leak|US diplomatic cables leaked]] in December 2010, Azerbaijani defence minister [[Safar Abiyev]] claimed that in January 2009 during his visit to Moscow, his Russian counterpart [[Anatoly Serdyukov]] unofficially had admitted to weapons transfers "after the second bottle of vodka" that evening, although officially it was denied.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/197735|title=Embassy cables: Truth about Putin and Medvedev – over a bottle of vodka|work=The Guardian|date=December 2010|access-date=24 December 2014}}</ref>

In June 2013 it was revealed that Russia has deployed in Armenia several [[Iskander-M]] ballistic missiles systems, which are stationed at undisclosed locations in the country.<ref>{{cite news|last=Harutyunyan|first=Sargis|title=Advanced Russian Missiles 'Deployed in Armenia'|url=http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/25005647.html|access-date=22 June 2013|date=3 June 2013|agency=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]}}</ref>