YEREVAN (A.W.)—Russia will continue to supply weapons to Azerbaijan, fulfilling an arms deal reached between the two countries. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin made this statement during a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, on April 8. Rogozin was responding to a reporter’s question about how he interprets Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian’s statement about Russian arms sales to Baku, reported Yerkir.
“Everything is done in compliance with the contracts. Both these countries are our strategic partners,” Rogozin was quoted as saying by the Russian news agency TASS. Rogozin co-chairs the Russian-Azerbaijani bilateral intergovernmental commission.
In recent years, Russia has continued to sell arms to Azerbaijan, estimated to value around $4 billion.
Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (left) and Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian on April 7 (photo: president.am)
On April 7, President Sarkisian met with Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. During the meeting that took place late on April 7, Sarkisian confronted Medvedev, stressing that Azerbaijan made full use of the weapons purchased from Russia. Sarkisian noted that because Russia is perceived as Armenia’s “closest ally and friend,” Baku’s use of Russian sold modern weapons has had “great resonance” in the Armenian public, reported ArmeniaNow.
“Dmitry Anatolievich, I’m sure you know that the fact that the Azerbaijanis used in full weapons that they acquired in Russia recently has had a lot of resonance in Armenia,” Sarkisian reportedly told Medvedev during the meeting. “This is natural because the people of Armenia consider Russia to be our closest ally and friend.”
“Now there is a situation in which we do not exclude another provocation… Without having any great illusions, we expect from the Minsk Group co-chairs and our allies targeted statements and concrete actions,” Sarkisian was quoted as saying.
According to ArmeniaNow, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan met with his Russian counterpart and called for acceleration of the planned delivery of Russian weapons that have an estimated value of $200 million.
(Note: The official website of Armenia’s President was down at the time of writing and publication of this article.)
Source: Armenian Weekly
Link: Russia Will Continue Supplying Arms to Azerbaijan