According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister in charge of
the defense industry, Dmitry Rogozin, both Armenia and Azerbaijan are Russia's
strategic partners in terms of arms trade.
BAKU, April 8. /TASS/. Russia will continue delivering
weapons to Azerbaijan and Armenia as its strategic partners under existing
contracts, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday.
The Russian vice-premier thus responded to a
journalists’ request to comment on a statement by the Armenian president that
Russia had supplied a large amount of weapons to Azerbaijan and specify if
Russia planned to continue these deliveries.
"Everything is done in compliance with the
contracts. Both these countries are our strategic partners," Rogozin said.
Rogozin co-chairs on Russia’s behalf the
Russian-Azerbaijani bilateral inter-governmental commission. Last time, Rogozin
met with the Azerbaijani leadership on March 3. At that time, the sides
discussed expanding bilateral cooperation, including military and technical
interaction. and participation in import substitution programs, in the first
place, in the sphere of agricultural produce.
Azerbaijan is a large partner of Russia on the weapons
market. In 2010-2014, Moscow signed contracts with Baku on the delivery of
helicopters, anti-aircraft missile systems, tanks and artillery systems.
According to Russian media data, the package of contracts
is estimated at $4 billion. Moscow also supplies armaments to Armenia,
including armored vehicles, communications, and other military hardware.
Source: ITAR-TASS 09-04-2016
