During the discussion at the “Armenian Institute for International and Security Affairs” the experts asked the Armenian Defense Ministry Spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan whether what steps the Ministry of Defense takes to reduce the dependence on arms purchases from Russia. Artsrun Hovhannisyan stated that he cannot speak about certain facts, but can say the following:
“Unlike Azerbaijan, in our case, the solution is to make long-term investments by own means, so that we can reduce the dependence. Whether why we have chosen this way is not a topic of public discussion”.
According to Artsrun Hovhannisyan: “We do not have a problem in catching up with Azerbaijan in terms of armament, because it is a dead-end path in terms of quantity and type of weapons. Maybe some people will not understand or misinterpret what I say, but one of the weakest aspects of Azerbaijan’s armaments is the range. In fact, Azerbaijan has no problem buying almost everything from the main supplier, Russia. There are some exceptions: communication systems, ATCs, that can be bought from other countries”.
Luiza SUKIASYAN
