Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan landed himself in hot water yet again after admitting on Saturday, after months of official denial that his government had purchased Su-30SM fighters jets from Russia “with no missiles.”
“Yes, we bought the fighter, it was delivered in May [2020] and yes, we did not have time to buy the missiles before the war [in Karabakh]. Would you buy planes so that we could buy missiles?” Pashinyan told a gathering residents in the country’s Aragatsotn region.
Back in November, former Chief of Armenia’s army General Staff Movses Hakobyan ceded that the fighter jets came without missiles intended for them, as Russia prohibits the sale of missiles for the Su-30SM to other countries, a claim which the Armenian Defense Ministry had rejected a the time, accusing Hakobyan of divulging state secrets.
During the 44-day conflict in Karabakh, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages, while at least 2,802 of its soldiers were martyred. There are differing claims about the number of casualties on the Armenian side, which, sources and officials say, could be up to 5,000.
The two countries signed a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov. 10 to end fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.
A joint Turkish-Russian center is being established to monitor the truce, and Russian peacekeeping troops have also been deployed in the region.
The cease-fire is seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia, whose armed forces have withdrawn in line with the agreement. Violations, however, have been reported in the past few weeks, with some Armenian soldiers said to have been hiding in the mountainous enclave.
