RUSSIA DENIES DELIVERING WEAPONS TO ARMENIA IN 2008

Interfax
Jan 22 2009
Russia

Moscow has denied delivering weapons to Armenia in 2008, and said
that reports being circulated by Azeri mass media are anti-Russian.

"In response to the Azeri Foreign Ministry’s note of January 15 2009
and to the Azeri side’s concerns, the Russian Foreign Ministry would
like to inform the Azeri Foreign Ministry that the Russian Defense
Ministry neither transferred nor sold weapons or military hardware
to the Armenian side in 2008, listed with amounts given in a document
published on January 8 2008," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a
note, sent to the Azeri Foreign Ministry and published on its website.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also said that this information had been
published on an Azeri website and received a broad resonance in the
Azeri mass media.

"The posting in question is misinformation of an apparently anti-
Russian nature, which hinders the positive development of friendly
relations between Russia and Azerbaijan," the note says.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow believed the question
was exhausted and urged all the parties concerned not to make any
hasty conclusions or steps.