Russian expert rules out need of second military base in Armenia  

Russia does not need a second military base on the territory of Armenia, Alexey Malashenko, an analyst and a security expert of the Carnegie Endowment Fund's scientific board, has said, commenting on the statement made by the Armenian president in a recent interview.

Speaking to Tert.am, the expert agreed to Serzh Sargsyan’s remark that one powerful military base is enough for a small country like Armenia but said he doesn’t understand why the issue should have been touched upon all of a sudden.

Asked whether the president might have attempted to “curb the Kremlin’s appetite”, Malashenko replied, “To be frank, that statement sounded rather strange to me. I don’t think Russia has such a desire. Armenia has a quite powerful Russian military base as it is. So I don’t understand why they should need the second. It may cause extra tensions in the Russian-Azerbaijani relations. I have never heard anything of the kind discussed in the political circles.”

Moloshenko said he thinks that a new military base, if ever stationed, should either have a specific mission to assist in the solution of certain problems or be targeted against powers posing threat to Russia.