Putin ratifies cooperation agreements with Armenia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed laws on the ratification of two cooperation agreements with Armenia and a treaty on good-neighborly and allied relations with Kazakhstan, ITAR-TASS reported.  

The documents ratified earlier by Russia's lower and upper houses were posted on the official web portal for legal information on Monday.

They include an agreement between Russia and Armenia on military and technical cooperation, signed in Armenia's capital, Yerevan, in June last year and regulating mutual military supplies for the two countries’ armed forces, law enforcement agencies and security services. Under the accord, Russia and Armenia will maintain military deliveries under contracts made by the two sides’ designated institutions without the need for import/export licenses.

The president also signed a law on ratification of an intergovernmental agreement with Armenia on cooperation in commodity supplies to Armenia. The document signed during Putin’s visit to Yerevan in December last year, stipulates Russia’s duty-free supplies of petroleum products, natural gas and natural uncut diamonds to Armenia before it joins the Eurasian integration space based on the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Among the documents signed is also a Russia-Kazakhstan treaty on good-neighborly and allied relations in the 21st century, signed in Russia’s Yekaterinburg in November last year. Russia and Kazakhstan are pledged to coordinate foreign policy to promote peace and security on Eurasian territory and wider afield, fostering closer contacts between the two countries’ parliaments, political parties and public organizations.

Russia and Kazakhstan will coordinate measures to regulate migration processes to ensure free movement of the two countries’ citizens. Partnership binds the two states to maintain information and cultural centers engaged in educational work among national diasporas. The treaty also seeks integration between Russia and Kazakhstan in defense, trade and economic development, investment and science.