In 2018, Russia will start delivering armaments to Armenia under a new credit line of $100 million. Vladimir Drozhzhov, deputy head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, announced this. Material from the iz.ru portal reviews the armaments which conflicting parties — Armenia and Azerbaijan — have received from Russia.
The agreement to provide the credit was signed 24 October 2017. The money is provided at the interest rate of 3 per cent for a period of up to 15 years. The ordered equipment and armaments will be delivered between 2018 and 2022. According to the terms of the agreement, Yerevan can use up to 90 per cent of the Russian credit money to pay for every concluded contract but must first make an advance payment of 10 per cent on its own.
There is no detailed data as to what exactly is to be delivered under this credit. Experts who have analysed regional military potentials have generally concluded that the deliveries are likely to comprise artillery (including self-propelled types), radio stations of artillery reconnaissance designed for counterbattery combat, and means of tactical air defence.
The United States announced in February 2018 that Armenia's buying Russian armaments could lead to the imposition of sanctions on its state structures and private companies. "These sanctions aim to ensure that Russia faces consequences of its actions. By limiting the possibility of other countries to buy military equipment, we are depriving Russia of the revenue from its sale which could be used for continuing the international campaign of negative influence and destabilization," the US Embassy in Armenia said, clarifying Washington's position.
Not for First Time
After the property of the Soviet Army left behind in the South Caucasus was divided in 1992, Armenia continued to receive additional armaments and ammunition at least until mid-1996. According to some sources, it was part of delayed implementation of the agreements onthe division of property. Others said that those were new deliveries which bypassed existing prohibitions. According to the information which Lev Rokhlin, head of the State Duma Committee on Defence, publicized in April 1997, the transferred property could have been worth up to a billion dollars.
More specifically, over 80 T-72 tanks, a certain number of BMP-2 [infantry fighting vehicles], as well as up to 120 rocket and cannon artillery pieces were transferred. A certain number of portable antiaircraft missile systems and some 10,000 pieces of small arms were handed over too. Armenia also got some half a million artillery shells, the same number of 30-milimeter shells for the automatic cannons of BMP-2s, some 1,000 rounds for antitank missiles systems, nearly 350,000 hand grenades, and more than 227 million rounds for small arms.
Subsequent military-technical cooperation with Armenia was of targeted nature and was limited by the state's difficult financial situation. Things only began moving forward in 2015 when Russia agreed to provide Armenia the first credit of up to $200 million for the purchase of armaments.
Under this credit, Yerevan will get 9K58 Smerch multiple launch rocket systems with ammunition, Igla-S and Verba portable antiaircraft missile systems, TOS-1A Solntsepek heavy flamethrower systems, Konkurs-M and Kornet-E antitank missile systems, and Tigr armoured vehicles. Avtobaza-M mobile electronic reconnaissance systems will also be delivered. Small arms and RPG-226 Aglen grenade launchers will be delivered too, along with communications equipment and engineering equipment. Yerevan has additionally ordered spare parts, aiming systems for tanks, and trucks.
Aside from this line, Yerevan additionally received as part of military aid in 2016 tactical ballistic missile systems Iskander-E, antiaircraft missile systems Buk-M1-2, and radio-electronic warfare systems.
On Other Side
Attentive observers will remember that Russia is delivering armaments not only to Armenia but also to Azerbaijan which is engaged in a conflict with the former over Nagorno-Karabakh. The scale of the deliveries is much larger: For a number of years, the post-Soviet "oil monarchy's" defence budget alone was larger than Armenia's entire state budget.
Moscow and Baku signed an intergovernmental agreement on military-technical cooperation as early as 2003. Azerbaijan has ordered a considerable package of armaments in Russia since 2005 (the statistics provided below are from the collection of articles titled Waiting for Storm: South Caucasus which was published by the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies).
Specifically, 162 tanks (62 T-72Bs and 100 T-90Ss) and over 400 other armoured vehicles (118 BMP-3s, as well as BTR-82As and BTR-80As) have been delivered. The number of purchased rocket and cannon artillery pieces and antitank systems has exceeded 300, including self-propelled artillery systems 2S19 Msta-S, 2S31 Vesna, multiple launch rocket system 9K58 Smerch, 100 antitank systems Kornet-E, and two divisions of tracked heavy antitank rocket systems Khrizantema-S, as well as 24 heavy flamethrower systems TOS-1A Solntsepek. Engineering equipment has also been delivered on a large scale.
Azerbaijan's air defence forces have received from Russia two divisions of antiaircraft missile systems S-300PMU-2 Favourit, two batteries of antiaircraft missile systems 9K332ME Tor-M2E, as well as 300 portable antiaircraft missile systems 9K338 Igla-S.
Additionally, over the last 10 years, Azerbaijan's security agencies have received 24 Mi-35M helicopters and 77 helicopters of the Mi-17 family. A license agreement for the production of 120,000 AK-74M assault rifles has been signed.
The contracts have only been implemented partially, among other things due to the delayed payments resulting from the sequestration of Baku's defence budget since 2015. For example, a total of 200 BMP-3 vehicles have been ordered and the entire batch has not been delivered yet. Deliveries of other armoured vehicles as well as of antitank missile systems and TOS-1A systems have also been delayed.