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.