DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
February 4, 2019 Monday
RUSSIA SOLD FIGHTERS TO ARMENIA AS IF TO ITSELF
Four Su-30SMs were sold to Armenia for domestic prices
by Ivan Safronov, Alexandra Djordjevic
It was the Sputnik agency that on Thursday reported, with reference to the press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry, on the signing of the new agreement on Su-30SM fighter jets. The Defense ministry confirmed the fact of the deal, but did not specify either the number of aircraft purchased or the amount of the contract, adding only that "the process of acquiring the weapons in the framework of the $ 100 million loan previously allocated by the Russian side is at the implementation stage". Rosoboronexport (the special exporter of Russian armaments) and the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation refrained from commenting.
Source: Kommersant, N18, February 1, 2019, p. 5 Moscow and Yerevan have signed a contract for the purchase of four Su-30SM multi-role fighter jets, which Armenian forces should receive in 2020. As it became known to Kommersant, the Russian negotiators made serious concessions to implement the deal with the CSTO ally: they not only issued a loan, but also sold the aircraft at Russian domestic prices, not at export prices. This contract can be considered symbolic both for the Armenian authorities as a whole, and for the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan personally: for the first time in decades, the Air Force of the country acquires new aircraft, not used ones.