BAKU, Azerbaijan— Russia has delivered a new batch of anti-tank missiles to Azerbaijan as a part of a lucrative arms deal with Baku that has been strongly criticized by Armenia in the past year.
On June 24, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry released a video of around a dozen self-propelled Khrizantema-S systems unloaded from a Russian cargo ship docked Baku’s Caspian Sea port.
The Khrizantema-S is designed to detect and destroy tanks, armored vehicles, field fortifications and even some low-flying aerial targets with guided missiles. It entered service with the Russian Armed Forces in 2005.
According to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, Azerbaijan is known to have received 10 such systems in 2015. It reportedly commissioned them in 2014.
On June 26, Armenian officials declined to comment on the latest deal. However, on June 28, Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan criticized the arms deal, citing Azerbaijan’s unpredictability as a dangerous component to the delivery.
Russia has also sold around $5 billion worth of tanks, artillery systems and other weapons to Azerbaijan in line with defense contracts signed in 2009-2011. According to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, it shipped six heavy artillery systems to the Azerbaijani military last year.
Previously, Armenian authorities had raised concerns regarding similar deals to Azerbaijan, especially after Azerbaijan’s 2016 April offensive. They said that supplying arms to Azerbaijani contradicts Russia’s alliance with Armenia and encourages a military solution to the conflict. However, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had rejected the criticism, saying that providing weapons to both sides creates a military balance in the conflict.
Last August, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that Moscow had increased the risk of another Artsakh war by providing weaponry. After implying that oil-rich Azerbaijan could have purchased weapons from other nations, Putin also argued that Russia has been providing Armenia with substantial military aid to Armenia for a long time.
Did Russia not know of the Azeri led war against Artsakh last April 2016? Of course it did. Did it warn Armenia? Of course not. These arms sales are just the continuation of the Russian policy of divide and conquer. I understand that Armenia doesn’t have much choice at this point but trusting Russia whole heartedly is foolish.
Shame on Russia for supplying weapons to Azerbaijan. Why isn’t the Armenian Government not complaining to Russia on this arms issue. I thought Russia was a joint Ally with Armenia & Russia does not put pressure on Azerbaijan on the killing of Armenian Artsakh Soldiers month after month. Hundreds of Artsakh Soldiers have been killed with no help from the United Nations & not one U.S. Newspaper or U.S. TV Station mention these killings not counting the Village People also being sniped at. Immediate pressure not only from the Armenian Government but Armenians in the Diaspora must wake up & work with our Senators, Congressman, & contact the Armenian Ambassador in Washington. DC before an all out attack by the Azeri’s take place. Also, 25 years have passed & why hasn’t the Enclave of Artsakh not been incorporated with Armenia. Why is this hush hush?
Why aren’t you shaming your US administration for America’s ally Israel supplying weapons to Azerbaijan? Why aren’t you complaining to your US administration re: allowing its NATO ally Turkey to close borders with and blockade Armenia and Artsakh? Why aren’t you shaming your US administration for not recognizing the Armenian genocide? Why aren’t you complaining to your US administration re: almost none US direct investment in Armenia’s economy? Why aren’t you shaming your US administration for putting the words “occupied territories” in the mouth of its representative to the OSCE Minsk group for the hard-won and liberated lands around Artsakh? Why aren’t you appreciating Russia’s giving the Iskander missiles to Armenia that only Russian and Armenia have? Only because you live in the US and complaining about Russia soothes the ears of the US administration? Right?
If Armenia is so afraid of potential use of these weapons, let it stop the occupation of internationally recognised Azerbaijani territories.
Russia can still be trusted, but it shouldn’t be trusted without reservation. Yes, Russia has blundered, with its decision to provide an unabated supply of armaments to Azerbaijan. Yes, Russia has been delusional, without taking a lesson from Azerbaijan’s aggressive behavior, threats, and all out war against Armenia’s Karabakh Stronghold. Despite these things, Russia remains loyal and in solidarity with Armenia, and Karabakh. But, Russia provides Armenia with armaments at a cheaper cost, and the alliance has been sustained, on solid ground.
A signed military alliance agreement, between Armenia and Russia, ensures that Russia will intervene in the defense of Armenia’s territorial integrity. The agreement, is a contract which ensures that Armenia and Russia have established a military alliance, and will remain in this state of cooperation until 2044.
The Russian 102nd Military Base is posted on the Turkish Border of Armenia, and effectively ensures that Turkey cannot attack Armenia, without suffering serious consequences. The Russian garrison in Armenia is comprised of some 4,500 men. In the event that a Turkish offensive annihilated the 102 Military Base, Russia would intervene with the full force of its armed forces. It would serve as a rallying cry that is the equivalent of “Remember the Maine” with American intervention, and the Spanish American War, in 1898, after the Battlecruiser Maine blew up in Havana’s harbor.