page_title: Armed Forces of Armenia
section_title: Russia
hierarchical_section_title: Armed Forces of Armenia / International military cooperation / Russia
caption_attribution_description: English: Vladimir Putin in Armenia, December 2013. During visit to the 102nd Russian military base.
context_page_description: The Armed Forces of Armenia comprise two services: the Army, and the Air Force and Air Defense. Though it was partially formed out of the former Soviet Army forces stationed in the Armenian SSR, the military of Armenia can be traced back to the founding of the First Republic of Armenia in 1918. Being a landlocked country, Armenia has no navy.
  The Commander-in-Chief of the military is the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan. The Ministry of Defence is in charge of political leadership, headed by Davit Tonoyan, while military command remains in the hands of the general staff, headed by the Chief of Staff, who is Lieutenant-General Onik Gasparyan. Armenia established a Ministry of Defence on 28 January 1992. Border guards subject to the Ministry patrol Armenia's borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan, while Russian troops continue to monitor its borders with Iran and Turkey. Since 2002, Armenia has been a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia signed a military cooperation plan with Lebanon on 27 November 2015.
context_section_description: Russia is Armenia's closest ally. 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.  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 guards 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 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. Russia also supplies weapons at the relatively lower prices of the Russian domestic market as part of a collective security agreement since January 2004.
  According to unconfirmed reports by the Azeri media, Russia has supplied $1 billion worth of arms and ammunitions to Armenia in 1996; and handed over an additional $800 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.
  Officer 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.
  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.
  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.
  At the beginning of 2009, Azerbaijani media published allegations that Russia had made extensive weapons transfers to Armenia throughout 2008 costing about $800 million. On 12 January 2009, the Russian ambassador was invited to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked about this information. On 21 Ja
caption: Vladimir Putin during his visit to the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia.
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