Friday, April 2 2021 13:14

ArmInfo. The Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Artak Davtyan, refused to answer the question of whether the Iskander missile defense system  was used during the fighting in the Karabakh conflict zone.

So, on April 2, in the military pantheon "Yerablur" in an interview  with journalists, answering the relevant question, he said in  particular:: "No comment. I can't say anything, it is not subject to  publication." Meanwhile, while the Armenian side refuses to comment,  the Azerbaijani side began to vigorously promote the claim that the  complexes were still used.

So, the Azerbaijani media today began to replicate footage of the  alleged remnants of missiles found near Shushi. The head of the  operational staff of the Agency for Demining of the Territories of  the Republic of Azerbaijan (ANAMA), Idris Ismailov, said that on  March 15, the remnants of two exploded missiles were found in two  different parts of Shusha at a distance of about 780 meters from each  other. "During the inspection of the missile by the code 9M723, it  was found that it was an Iskander. The length of the rocket is 7.2  meters, the diameter is 920 mm. The rocket was completely blown up  and consisted of two parts. Operational search activities are  continuing in the specified territory, " he assured.

These statements of Baku directly contradict the statement of  Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, which he made at a press  conference for foreign and local media on February 26. At that time,  Aliyev said that Azerbaijan had not recorded the use of Russian  Iskander missile systems by Armenia during the conflict in  Nagorno-Karabakh.

The reason for this statement of Aliyev was the statements made by  the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan in February of this  year in one of his interviews. Then he said that during the fighting  in Nagorno-Karabakh, "Iskander missiles did not explode or exploded  only by 10%." This statement caused a wide international response,  and the Russian side sharply criticized the Armenian prime Minister,  accusing him of incompetence.

These statements of Azerbaijan raise many questions, including why  Baku suddenly began to speculate on this topic. It is no secret that  if the complexes were really used during the war, Baku would have  already trumpeted about it on all platforms, calling for bringing  Armenia to justice.

Note that the fact of the use of "Iskander" was denied by the  Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. At that time, the  Russian Defense Ministry assured that Armenia did not use Iskander  operational-tactical complexes in the conflict in  Nagorno-Karabakh."According to the objective and reliable information  available to us, confirmed by the objective control system, none of  the missile systems of this type was used during the conflict in  Nagorno-Karabakh. All missile ammunition is stored in the warehouses  of the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia," the Russian Defense  Ministry said, suggesting that, apparently, Pashinyan "was misled, as  a result of which he used inaccurate information."

"Iskander-M" was developed in the Kolomna Design Bureau of Mechanical  Engineering (holding "High-precision Complexes"). In the version for  the Russian army, the complex includes two types of missiles:   ballistic and cruise. The range of the Iskander-M missiles was  officially called - up to 500 km. It was reported that the missiles  of the complex can carry a nuclear warhead. The complex is in service  with the missile brigades of the Russian Ground Forces. Armenia  received the complexes as part of a defense loan provided by Moscow  to Yerevan.