Friday, September 13 2019 11:20

ArmInfo.Russian Foreign  Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sees no connection between the  issues related to the Karabakh conflict and the increase in US  financial assistance to Azerbaijan to fight terrorism.

Thus, during a weekly briefing, referring to the fact that recently  in the Armenian and Azerbaijani media various materials constantly  appear that the United States is increasing financial assistance to  Azerbaijan, aimed at combating terrorism, and the fact that these  funds will go to train the officers of the relevant units, which  naturally causes some concern in Iran and Armenia, as Karabakh  Armenians are often called terrorists by Baku, Zakharavoa expressed  the belief that every sovereign state has the right to communication  and cooperation in various fields.

According to her, the matter concerns military and military-technical  cooperation. "All states of the world are preoccupied with the fight  against international terrorism. It is the business of sovereign  states to develop such interaction and cooperation. Moreover, in the  context of your question in connection with the long-term, very  difficult and unresolved situation between the two countries -  Azerbaijan and Armenia - we proceed from that everything should be  done to ensure that this complex and long-standing problem is  resolved, so as not to aggravate it, but to contribute to its  resolution. As you know, Russia responsibly implements its  obligations in the framework of the relevant OSCE Minsk Group. But  still, I would separate these two issues, " Zakharova summed up.

Earlier it became known that the United States provided Azerbaijan  with another military assistance in the amount of 10 million US  dollars for anti-terrorist activities and the acquisition of  intelligence systems.  According to Pentagon reports for Congress,  received and published by the Center for International Politics in  Washington in the framework of the program (SAM), the US Department  of Defense in 2018 allocated $ 58.6 million to the border and customs  services of Azerbaijan, and in 2019 this amount amounted to $ 42.9  million. Moreover, the Pentagon has not published all the budget  information about the program for the fiscal year 2019, which means  that the actual amount allocated to the program this year may exceed  $ 42.9 million.