Koryun Nahapetyan: Moscow should realize consequences of its arms deals with Baku

 When selling weapons to Azerbaijan, Russia and other member states of the CSTO cannot neglect the fact that Armenia is the guarantor of security of Artsakh, against which those weapons are used, Koryun Nahapetyan, Head of the Armenian Standing Parliamentary Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs, told reporters on April 15.  "Armenia considers all the military actions against the people of Artsakh as a threat to Armenia, which is also a member of the CSTO," he said. At the same time, Nahapetyan gave a negative reply to the question whether the CSTO and particularly Russia assumed the obligation to take into account the fact that Armenia is the guarantor of security of Artsakh.   

"However, we have repeatedly raised that issue on various international platforms and our partners should take our stand into consideration. Yerevan has repeatedly spoken of the unacceptability of Azerbaijan's purchase of offensive weapons, which broke the balance between the sides and may have grave consequences for not only the countries of the region but also Russia, because it has its own interests in this region. So, Moscow should realize what its arms deals with Baku may result it," he said.     

He added that some of the weapons on the list of the Armenian-Russian 200 mln USD loan agreement have already been delivered to Armenia. "However, not all the weapons have been delivered. The Defense Ministries of Armenia and Russia are taking measures to that end," he said.   

To note, under the agreement on provision of a 200 mln USD loan to Armenia, the Armenian armed forces will acquire 9K58 "Smerch" multiple artillery rocket systems with ammunition, "Igla-S" surface-to-air missile systems, "Avtobaza-M" passive signals-intelligence systems, TOS-1A "Solntsepyok" flame throwers, "Tigr" all-terrain infantry mobility vehicles, "Konkurs-M" anti-tank missile systems, RPG-26 anti-tank rocket launchers, KamAZes, as well as communications equipment and engineering equipment.
The agreement of Russia's concessional loan was signed in 2015. Armenia will start repaying the loan at the annual interest of 3% in 2018 in terms of Russian rubles within 10 years. The prepayment will total just 10%. Actually, the two Armenians republics can buy an endless amount of weapons from Russia for $200mln considering the continuous devaluation of the Russian ruble and Armenia's CSTO membership.