Armenia: Yerevan Buying Russian Arms at CSTO Discount

Russia is selling guns at a discounted price to its budget-conscious allies Armenia and Belarus under membership provisions of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Moscow-led counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Arminfo news agency reported.

"Agreements on the basic principles of military and technical cooperation within the framework of the CSTO are fully effective and include supplying military hardware to CSTO states at a privileged price," CSTO spokesperson Vitaly Strugovets told Arminfo. He added that Belarus and Armenia are making effective use of the opportunity.

The volume of orders for Russian weaponry and materiel tripled between 2007 and 2008, Strugovets said.