Armenia may raise rent for Russian base if gas prices increase — lawmaker from Civil Contract

Armenia may raise the rent for the presence of the Russian military base in the country if the price of gas supplied from Russia is increased, the head of the Armenian parliament's committee on defense and security, lawmaker from the ruling Civil Contract party Vilen Gabrielyan told the Factor outlet.

On Friday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told journalists that "if there are such situations with an increase in gas prices," then the Armenian side will also look at "what it can raise prices on, or what has been free until now, and what, after that, may proportionally acquire a price."
Answering a question as to whether this statement by Pashinyan applies to the rent for the presence of the Russian military base, the lawmaker said: "Why not?"

"My personal point of view is yes, a similar recalculation in the financial part, as you say, may also take place with regard to the base, because, as we know, the territory and the maintenance (of the base — ed.) are for the most part carried out at Armenia's expense," Gabrielyan said.

At the same time, he added that this is not Armenia's only lever or element of its toolkit. "There are other elements as well. But within the framework of relations between the two states, if the price of gas is to be raised, then we too must understand what toolkit we have in the negotiation process with our partners in order to restrain the increase as much as possible," the lawmaker said.

Let us note that after the meeting of the leaders of Russia and Armenia, Vladimir Putin and Nikol Pashinyan, on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Bishkek, the topic of the presence of the Russian military base in Gyumri entered the agenda of the upcoming Russian-Armenian talks in Moscow.

The 102nd Russian military base is stationed in Armenia under an interstate treaty between Moscow and Yerevan dating from 1995. On August 20, 2010, Russia and Armenia extended the term of the treaty on the deployment of the base until 2044. The air component of the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri is the Erebuni airbase, stationed in Yerevan.
Source: Sputnik Armenia