As stated by the political scientist, it is neither Russia, nor Azerbaijan, but Iran.
The Deputy Minister of the Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan referred to the visit of the Minister of Regional Cooperation of Israel Tzachi Hanegbi to Yerevan, informing that Israel is ready to sell weapons to Armenia as well, and it sells weapons to Azerbaijan not out of its hostility towards Armenia.
We asked the deputy head of “Caucasus” institute Sergey Minasyan whether it would be favorable to Armenia to buy weapons from Israel, he replied: “Theoretically it is favorable, forasmuch as Israeli weapons are the ones oftentimes unique regarding their opportunities. That circumstance was of particular importance, for example, during April War, inasmuch as the primary issues the Artsakh troops have faced were connected with not Russian, but Israeli weapons, surprisingly enough. It is another question that the price is the problem: Israeli weapons and the types of weapons made in contemporary Western standards are rather expensive. And the peculiarity of Armenian-Russian military-technological cooperation is that the Republic of Armenia has an opportunity to acquire the newly produced weapons on preferential terms, cheaper and the already used weapons more privileged or free of charge.”
As stated by Sergey Minasyan, the issue is not political as much as economic: “We speak of too serious sums: for example, the one-year volumes of Azerbaijan’s and Israel’s military-technological cooperation, pursuant to different calculations, amount to several billions of USD, therefore, the issue is not only that Israel sells weapons to Azerbaijan because it has issues with us.”
Sergey Minasyan stated that unlike the Western countries – the US, the EU and NATO member states, which have Embargo to sell lethal weaponry in the conflict region, Israel does not have that Embargo and sells weapons of modern and high technical efficiency to Azerbaijan, but it is extremely expensive.
Asked whether it would be more favorable to reduce the weapons which are being acquired from Russia, to save money and acquire some types of weapons of Western standards from Israel, or the Russian Federation would object, Mr. Minasyan replied that in this question not the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan are sensitive as much as Iran: “Serious political issues are in place. For example, the confrontation between Israel and Iran. Iran practically does not provide lethal types of weapons to Azerbaijan at the moment. And the Russian factor is the easiest explanation. But overall, it would be good if we had an opportunity to acquire types of weapons equal to Israeli weapons.”
Sergey Minasyan emphasized that each bullet acquired from either the Russian Federation or Israel will only and only contribute to the military balance and peace preservation.
Asked whether during the 25 years of cooperation with Israel the diplomatic apparatus of the Republic of Armenia has worked effectively, Mr. Minasyan highlighted once again, that we should understand that here we deal with a relationship with a country which is very sensitive towards that issue: that country is Iran. And we should calculate so that no steps are undertaken in the result of which we will suffer more than acquire.
TATEV HARUTYUNYAN
