“Property or money for weapons not supplied to Armenia”: about Russia’s debt

Russia’s debt for the supply of weapons to Armenia

“Armenia is looking for alternative solutions until the problem of arms supplies that has arisen in relations with Russia is resolved,” Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of the Security Council, said in Minsk, where a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils of the CSTO military bloc, acting under the leadership of Russia, is taking place. No details from Minsk have been reported yet.

It is not known whether Grigoryan had a meeting with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev nor whether the issue of arms supplies was discussed. He announced such an intention before leaving for Minsk on television.

Political analyst Hovsep Khurshudyan believes that even if negotiations on the issue of arms supplies take place, they will not result in anything. In his opinion, the issue can be resolved only in an international court.

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For several months now, Armenia has been discussing the story of Russia’s debt for the supply of weapons for which it was paid. The Prime Minister of the country was the first to talk about this, without specifying which country he was talking about:

“We have cases where hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid, but the obligations for deliveries to Armenia are not fulfilled, including by the allied countries.”

This statement was made after the hostilities on the border of Armenia in the fall of 2022, called the “September War”. Against the backdrop of reports of “the invasion of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces into the sovereign territory of Armenia and numerous casualties,” this statement caused a stormy response in society.

Then it became known that the partner who received the payment but did not deliver the weapons was Russia. Since the authorities and the entire society of Armenia were outraged by the inaction of Russia and the CSTO military bloc, to which the country turned for help to protect its borders, the topic of arms supplies became one of the most discussed.

However, so far neither the Prime Minister nor any of his team have provided details on how negotiations are progressing over the undelivered weapons, and whether the return of the amount paid is expected.

The Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia made such a statement on a possible meeting with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev and discussing the issue of arms supplies.

“Taking into account the existing reality, namely: the Russian-Ukrainian war, the ability of Russia to serve its needs during these hostilities, as well as the lack of resources in order to also export, we have chosen the path of finding other resources.”

Grigoryan assured that there are many countries with which Armenia is conducting intensive negotiations on the issue of arms purchases.

“On the one hand, we have results [on the supply of weapons from other countries], on the other hand, negotiations [with Russia] are ongoing,” he said.

Political analyst Hovsep Khurshudyan believes that returning several hundred million dollars is not a problem for Moscow:

“They deliberately do not return it. They could well return the money, this is a small amount, we are talking about several hundred million dollars. We see how the Russian Federation is transferring tens of billions of dollars to Turkey, including for the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.”

He thinks that the situation with “non-delivered weapons and non-return of money indicate the intention to use the current situation as another way of sabotage.”

According to the analyst, Yerevan should take tough measures:

“The final decision on the return of this money will be made in the international court. Just as Ukraine is now demanding compensation for the destroyed economy and cities, Armenia must demand this compensation. And get at least property for debts.”

He recalled the “Property Instead of Debt” agreement signed in 2002 and stressed that at that time the Russian Federation “acquired Armenian enterprises for pennies”:

“Now we are talking about a sum of several hundred million dollars, but we gave away huge enterprises to Russia in exchange for a debt of only 96-97 million dollars. So we can easily return all this property by applying to an international court.”