MOSCOW. July 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The Armenian budget for 2003 does not allocate funds for armament and military hardware procurement, Serzh Sarkisian, defense minister and Security Council secretary, has said.
"Our main articles of expenditure are paying salaries to servicemen and providing them with all other kinds of allowance, as well as material and technical support of military units. Not a single dram (Armenian national currency - Interfax-AVN) is allocated for armament and hardware procurement in this year's budget. If we procure something, it is financed out of extra- budget sources, including thanks to the diaspora's support," Sarkisian said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda daily published on Wednesday.
Armenia's military budget for 2003 amounts to USD90m, the official said.
According to him, air defense assets of the Armenian army will be replaced with more up-to-date systems in the coming year or 1.5 years. "In this issue, we rely primarily on cooperation with Russia and member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization," he said.
Sarkisian noted that the Armenian Armed Forces currently number about 43,000 personnel. The overwhelming majority of the personnel are Armenian citizens in active-duty service. Armenia does not have any capabilities to transfer the army to professional service. At the same time, a few units numbering a total of 7,000 people are manned with professionals. They are mostly deployed on the border.
Armenian army officers' salaries have been doubled over the past few years, the defense minister said. "They are currently comparable to those of Russian servicemen. For instance, a lieutenant colonel commanding a regiment is paid about USD400 a month, including all bonuses. Those who are on combat duty on national borders are paid much more. Servicemen's salary there is two to 2.5 times higher than of those who serve in inland areas," he said.
According to Sarkisian, Armenia has no problems with pro- NATO orientation of its neighbors Georgia and Azerbaijan.
"We support possible deployment of U.S. servicemen on the territory of our neighbors, because in this case Armenia will get additional protection from the right and the left. At the same time, we are not going to follow their example," the minister said.