Moscow Hails ‘Strategic’ Military Ties with Armenia

Source : RIA Novosti

YEREVAN, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russian- Armenian collaboration in the defense industry has reached a new, “strategic” level, a top Russian national security official said Tuesday.

Russia and Armenia have the “highest possible level of ties – strategic relations,” Russian Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev said after signing five new bilateral agreements during an official visit to Armenia.

The new agreements should help put in place a solid legal and regulatory basis for bilateral relations and make such ties more effective, the official added.

The new documents include a treaty on the development of collaboration in the defense technology sector between the Armenian Defense Ministry and Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, as well as an agreement on collaboration and exchange of information for border protection

Finland Accuses Russia of Airspace Violation

Source : RIA

MOSCOW, June 12 (RIA Novosti) – Two Russian military aircraft are suspected of having violated Finland’s airspace, the Finnish Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

The incident took place Tuesday morning over the Gulf of Finland, the ministry said on its website.

The report did not identify the Russian aircraft, saying only that F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets of the Finnish Air Force were dispatched in order to identify the invaders.

The Russian Defense Ministry admitted an unspecified number of Tu-22 bombers and Su-27 fighter jets conducted flights in the vicinity of Finland on Tuesday, but denied that they intruded in the country’s airspace.

This is the second such incident in a month. The Russian military denied the accusations the last time, but admitted a military aircraft came near the Finnish airspace due to bad weather.

In 2008, Finland announced plans to purchase 12 new radar systems because of alleged regular violations of its airspace by Russian jets. The first radar was deployed last January

18 die in fighting for Somali port city of Kismayo

Source : APA

Eighteen people have been killed in gun battles between riva fighting for control of the Somali port city of Kismayo, APA reports quot

According to Kismayo residents, 13 people were killed on Saturday and five d Friday.

"The Ras Kamboni militia now controls this part of the city," said Bile Nur, a r Kismayo's Calanleey district.

"Residents are burying the dead of the militia driven out, while Ras Kamboni theirs," he added.

Local elder Nur Ibrahim said there is not much hope for a negotiated end to "We hope fighting will cease. Only the man with the most weapons will rema

African Union troops are currently in charge of security in the lucrative port o and its fertile hinterlands.

In October 2012, Kenyan troops backed by Ras Kamboni militiamen, captured from al-Shabab fighters.

On Saturday, a senior al-Shabab official in Kismayo said Kenya was responsib latest bloodshed.

“The resurgence of tribal hostility in Kismayo is a result of the Kenyan invasio and the Kenyan government will be held fully responsible for every drop of b Xudayfa Abdirahman stated.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, when warlo overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

However, MPs meeting in Mogadishu elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the president of Somalia with a big majority in September 2012.

The weak Western-backed government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Sha for more than five years and is propped up by a 10,000-strong African Union Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, and Kenya.