Expert says Azeri armament no priority for Russia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan’s armament is neither a priority for Russian foreign policy, nor a trend in its defense companies’ activities, senior fellow at the Institute of Political and Social Studies of the Black Sea and Caspian region said.

“Russia’s official stance holds that sharp change in military-political and strategic balance at the line of contact between the parties should meet its interests in the South and North Caucasus regions,” Andrei Areshev said, commenting on Russian-Azerbaijani arms deal.

He further said that unlike the Russian-Armenian military and technical cooperation, Russian-Azerbaijani collaboration doesn’t bear such a complex character.

“You might not believe but Russian government sometimes lacks resources to regulate commercial activities of separate businesses,” he said, adding that special defense companies are in charge of arms supply.

The political expert further deemed arms deals between Azerbaijan and Western countries possible in the near future.