ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPERS LEFT FOR KOSOVO

Today Hercules-C130 Greek warplane left Zvartnots Yerevan international airport with the first detachment of Armenian peacekeepers aboard. By a special flight the plane will take them to the Macedonian capital of Skopje, where the Armenian platoon will join a Greek contingent and as its part will participate in peacekeeping in Kosovo. As defense minister of Armenia Serge Sargsian told journalists in the airport, the participation of Armenian “blue helmets” in the international peacekeeping mission is “one of the stages of cooperation with the NATO, not the beginning of new cooperation.” At that he called not to consider it as a shift of the foreign policy course of Armenia. The minister emphasized that participation of the Armenian military in international peacekeeping operations is important from the point of view that Armenia, while being a small country with a young army, nevertheless makes its contribution to establishment of peace to the best of its ability.