MEHTI MEHTIYEV: "SUPPLIES OF RUSSIAN MILITARY HARDWARE TO ARMENIA REALLY TOOK PLACE"
Today.Az
Jan 22 2009
Azerbaijan
"As is known, there is no smoke without fire that the supplies of
Russian military hardware in the amount of $800,000,000 to Armenia,
spoken of by Azerbaijani mass media, really took place", said famous
military expert Mehti Mehtiyev.
He noted that Russia is currently not ready to disavow this
information, basing on the standard Russian "perhaps" and hoping that
this information will not be revealed.
"The information came out that Russia, which is one of the OSCE MG
co-chairs, had to search ways to justify itself. It did not cope with
the task well. First of all, the response took 9 days. Second, the
very form of the response, filled with ultimatum lexicology and such
common phrases as "Russian side considers that the issue, raised in the
mentioned note of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan is exhausted" and
"the said publication is a disinformation of anti-Russian nature",
does not prove the sincerity of Russia’s position and creates an
opinion that we are facing the attempt to hide the reason.
And the current statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry is an obliged
step aimed to help this country preserve its image. In this connection,
it should be reminded that in 1996 Russia also supplied Armenia with
arms in the amount of over $1 bln and at that time official Moscow
also rebutted this information", said Mehtiyev.
In other words, according to the military expert, every time Russia
sees that Azerbaijan allocates funds for strengthening its army,
it also supplies Armenia with arms free of charge.
"But I am confident that even if there were such supplies from Russian
side, Armenia will not be able to reach the level of armed preparedness
of the Azerbaijani army", concluded Mehtiyev.