According to Stepan Safaryan, we have nothing to do in this crazy race, we spend useless money on armaments, which quickly become obsolete. Armenia and Azerbaijan have entered into the dangerous race of arms. This is proved by the fact that after the demonstration of Iskander” missile during the military parade in Yerevan to mark the 25th anniversary of the Independence Day of Armenia, Baku officially announced that since October Azerbaijani army will be equipped with local production “Zerbe” kamikaze-drones. Earlier, it was announced that “Russia helicopters” JSC and Azerbaijani Silk Way Helicopter Services air enterprise will establish a joint venture for the renovation of Mi-8/17 civil type helicopters in the territory of Azerbaijan.
Yesterday, it was announced that Azerbaijan and Russia have signed a memorandum on joint production of tactical missiles of a new generation. The document was signed by the representatives of “Sharg” Industrial Union of Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and the Russian state-owned Corporation “Tactical Missile Weapons”, under the framework of ADEX 2016 arms exhibition in Baku.
“Aravot” asked the military expert Karen Vrtanesyan whether this arms race is not dangerous, he replied, “The arms race, of course, creates dangers to the overall stability and generally, peace in the region but as long as we are in a war, otherwise is not possible.”
To our observation whether under such threats by Azerbaijan, the excitement among some segment of the Armenian society after the demonstration of “Iskander” missiles is justified, Mr. Vrtanesyan reacted by assuring that these two phenomena are not associated with each other, “The great segment of the society realizes that “Iskander” missile system is for solving some problems but it does not mean that it is a super universal weapon that performs every task starting from making coffee ending with the destruction of key targets of the enemy.”
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Karen Vrtanesyan recommends treating Azerbaijani statements with reservation, “Such statements should be treated with caution because many things that they are presenting are simply a lie. Actually, they are talking about Israeli drones that they want to assemble them in their country as they have a joint plant. As for the joint helicopter repair center, which is designed for about 17 military transport helicopters, it is not known when and how it will be build.”
Back to Azerbaijan’s response to arms, Karen Vrtanesyan considered it normal that our enemy makes response actions. As observed by Stepan Safaryan, the Head of the Armenian Institute for International and Security Affairs, the military parade dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Independence of Armenia sobered the Azerbaijani side as during the days of war in April, the rumors about the arrival of “Iskander” in Armenia had reached to them but it was neither denied nor approved. While the parade, according to Stepan Safaryan, arouse anger and disappointment. It makes Azerbaijan to change the environment of defensive and offensive weapons and to review the entire system of the arsenal, “Right after the military parade, they announced that they are commencing a production of new tactical missiles. They made such demonstrative things to console their own people. In the past, they were thinking that they can solve problems with new tanks and Smerches. But “Iskander” made them change their views, hence they passed to making such statements, including the creation of UAVs.”
Note that this is not the only surprise by Russian to Armenian and Azerbaijani side. Russia does this regularly. Stepan Safaryan noted in this respect, “For years, our defense system used to acquire more protective armor based on the premise that we are going to protect ourselves only. But when they began to sell more serious offensive weapons to Azerbaijan, a problem arose with the Armenian side as it becomes clear that what was obtained from Russia is no longer sufficient to confront those new challenges. Now, the same is happening with Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan had placed an emphasis on the acquisition of modern tanks and UAVs and aviation, but now when there is “Iskander”, they need a serious review, which causes an extra demand for Russia to provide such new weapons that will neutralize the threats of the Armenian side. Once, we were also confident but when in 2009, an agreement was signed between Azerbaijan and Russia on the expansion of the volumes of armors, it became clear that our defense system can no longer be sufficient against the background of armors purchased by Azerbaijan. Now, the same is happening in the case of Azerbaijan.”
Stepan Safaryan assures that Russia is selling weapons by increasing fears and forcing to review the volumes of the armors, which is dangerous, “We should have found a way of not to enter into the arms race but to stop it.” According to the political analyst, we have nothing to do in this crazy race, we spend useless money on the armaments, which quickly become obsolete, “Unfortunately, we did not make any move to get out of this vicious period, thinking that the interests of Russia would never be turned toward Azerbaijan. But the sanctions against Russia and the West-Russia confrontation problems have led to this situation.” In this context, Mr. Safaryan stated with regret that Armenia has already entered into a new arms race, the end of which remains unseen.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
“Aravot” daily
