Security will be Armenia's priority until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is settled, senior researcher of the Russia's Institute for Strategic Studies Adzhar Kurtov told ArmInfo, when asked to comment on the opinion of Russian military expert Alexander Khromchikhin that Armenia must urgently find money to buy more arms so as to be able to resist Azerbaijan.
"Azerbaijan has never made a secret of its plans to enlarge its army so as to be able to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by means of force should the efforts to settle it peacefully fail. And Armenia cannot but be worried about this," Kurtov said.
Concerning the possibility of a new war, he said that this depends not so much on the size of Azerbaijan's army as on its efficiency. "There is certain disparity between the armies of Azerbaijan and the two Armenian republics, which is a source of temptation for the former and a reason for concern for the latter. But for the time being I see no prerequisites for a new war," Kurtov said.
Quoting most of international military experts, he said that Nagorno- Karabakh's army is more efficient than the army of Azerbaijan, but the problem is that the Azeris can spend even bigger money on even better weaponry. "But let's not forget that war is mostly a clash of interests," Kurtov said. He advises Armenia not to try to keep pace with Azerbaijan in military spending but to find alternative ways, like partnership with Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.