According to military expert Karen Vrtanesyan, Azerbaijan’s statements will not change Armenian-Russian relations
“The fact that the Azerbaijani are using their Foreign Ministry to conduct operations against us, it seems to me that no one is surprised. It is common in the military practice to use everything, starting from heavy rock up to paper texts. Hence, Azerbaijanis are using what they have at hand,” said military expert Karen Vrtanesyan in an interview with “Aravot”. We talked with him about the note of protest of Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry to Russia.
The Azerbaijani authorities are concerned that Russia has provided a loan of 200 million dollars to Armenia for the sale of weapons. Baku demanded official guarantees from Moscow that these weapons will not be deployed by Armenia in the “occupied Azerbaijani territories” and alongside the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. “The transfer of arms and ammunition to Armenia, especially offensive weapons, does not contribute to the settlement of the conflict,” stated Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev. “I am sure that this statement will have no effect on the Armenian-Russian relations,” said the military expert Karen.
Vrtanesyan noted that such a statement by Azerbaijan is simply ridiculous, “Because Azerbaijan is the most arms importing country in Europe during the last 4 years, it becomes a diplomatic hypocrisy, a political hypocrisy,” says Karen Vrtanesyan. In response to our observation that for many years Azerbaijan is buying weapons from Russia and use against us, however, we do not demand an official response from Russia, Mr. Vrtanesyan recalls the concerns voiced during President Serzh Sargsyan’s speech that the Armenian soldier is killed on the border by the Russian weapons used by Azerbaijan, “The President’s statement was not less official in a public place,” says Mr. Vrtanesyan. The military expert considers that the acquired military equipment is quite a serious supply, “in many directions and strengthens us a lot.”
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“Many people were criticizing about what it is, engines etc. but even the engine enables us to extend the exploitation of the tank that we have or the combat vehicle of infantrymen for 10-15 more years, which means that we upgrade the equipment with relatively fewer costs”. With regard to Azerbaijan’s convulsions associated with the procurement of military equipment, Mr. Vrtanesyan does not associate it with the conflicts in the region, particularly, the escalation of the Russian-Turkish relations, “The issue of providing a loan to Armenia by Russia was discussed much earlier, even before Russia’s involvement in the Syrian conflict, – says Mr. Vrtanesyan, noting that Azerbaijan does not need something special to once again aggravate the situation on the border, – They solve their internal issues by escalating the situation on the border, and it does not mean that we should be afraid to breathe that Azerbaijan may become angry. Naturally, no one in Armenia thinks so, and no one is trying to solve national security issues depending on the reaction of Azerbaijan. Any response of Azerbaijan cannot be positive for Armenia.”
Referring to constantly provoked policy by Turkey, Mr. Vrtanesyan says, “Turkey is not so adequate partner or neighbor for anyone. Turkey has repeatedly proved to be highly destabilizing in the region. Accordingly, we need to think not about what the response we will get from Turkey but we need to have an appropriate armor that nothing would come to Turkey’s mind.” Note that the Russian Foreign Ministry representative Maria Zakharova had responded to Baku’s aforementioned note of protest.
“We already informed the Azerbaijani side via diplomatic channels that Russia and Armenia are connected by allied relations and develop military-technical cooperation as well. This is a well-known fact. We cooperate without hiding anything — transparently and openly. We hope that Azerbaijan will treat this fact with understanding.” Maria Zakharova has also stated in the response, “Any weapons are delivered to Armenia or friendly Azerbaijan with careful consideration of necessity to preserve the existing balance of power in the region.”
Hripsime HOVHANNISYAN,
“Aravot” daily
