Thursday, March 15 2018 14:39

ArmInfo. Armenia welcomes the fact that Russia is trying to draw certain conclusions after the April war. Shavarsh Kocharyan, deputy foreign minister of Armenia, stated  this in a conversation with journalists on March 15 after the meeting of the Armenian government, commenting on the head of the committee on international affairs of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia Konstantin Kosachev that Russia will not continue to supply weapons to Azerbaijan in this scale in the future.

According to Kocharyan, Russia has traditionally been the number one  armament supplier for Azerbaijan, and not only in the period from  2013 to 2017, as stated in the report of the Stockholm Peace Research  Institute (SIPRI).

Nevertheless, referring to the statement of Konstantin Kosachev, the  representative of the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that it seems  that after the April 2016 war, Russia draws certain conclusions. As  for how much you can trust the assurances of a strategic partner -  Russia on the possible revision of its policy on arms sales, Shavarsh  Kocharyan said: "Foreign policy is not thinking in terms of faith -  do not believe we just fix that such statements (Lonstantina Kosaeva  , editor's notes) are welcomed by Armenia. " In a report published  recently on the state of the world arms trade between 2013 and 2017  of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), it was said that  Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2016-2017 bought weapons worth about $ 700  million. According to the report, Armenia in terms of arms imports  for 2016-2017 ranked 54th in the world. For two years, the country  imported weapons worth $ 124 million, 100% of the arms supplies to  Armenia fell on Russia. As for Azerbaijan, it took 27th place in  terms of arms imports: in two years the country purchased arms worth  $ 551 million, mainly from Israel and Russia.

Meanwhile, on the eve of the Armenian parliament head of the  international affairs committee of the Federation Council of the  Federal Assembly of Russia Konstantin Kosachev, commenting on the  fact that Russia, denouncing the US arms supplies to Ukraine itself  sells weapons to Azerbaijan, he said that Russia is simply performing  contracts that were signed before April 2016, as this is part of its  obligations. At the same time, the parliamentarian assured that  Russia will no longer supply weapons to Azerbaijan on this scale.  "Undoubtedly, we are reacting to the situation that emerged after the  April 2016 war in the zone of the Karabakh conflict, there is no  doubt about that," Kosachev assured.