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AZERBAIJANI-RUSSIAN TENSIONS SPREAD TO WEAPONS
Yeni Musavat, Azerbaijan
April 2 2013
Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan that began to sour from the
middle of 2012 have further worsened in recent months. Although Baku
officially denies these reports, hard facts show that relations are
increasingly chilly. According to azeridefence.com website, all talks
on procurement by Azerbaijan of new weapons and military hardware
from Russia have been stopped.
The report quoted sources in the military and said that this
step was taken after Russia disagreed to the price Azerbaijan
proposed for renting the Qabala radar station and gave up on the
station. Thus Azerbaijan's negotiations on procurement of new rescue
helicopters, T-90S tanks, BMP T armoured personnel carriers, as well as
surface-to-air missiles (the name of the missiles was not disclosed)
from Russia were stopped and Baku gave up on buying these pieces
of hardware.
Currently Russia is making deliveries on the contracts that were signed
in previous years. On 1 April Yeni Musavat researched this topic from
other sources. A military expert said that there may be two reasons
why this report was leaked: "It is possible that it is correct and
Azerbaijan has completely stopped buying weapons from Russia. The
second version is that Baku wants to take this step and wishes to
study the Kremlin's reaction. At any rate, this shows to what extent
relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are strained. When relations
between the two countries worsen this first of all affects military
contracts. The reason is simple. According to official figures, in
the past five years Azerbaijan ordered weapons and military hardware
worth 1.7bn dollars from Russia."
The expert said that Russia is one of the biggest weapon vendors
internationally and Russian President Vladimir Putin has a major
stake in this: "Putin recently signed a contract on sale of weapons to
India for several billion dollars. Compared to this contract weapons
that Azerbaijan buys and payments it makes seem negligible. However,
Russia and Putin, as I pointed out, have always been sensitive to this
matter and it seems that the authorities are deliberately treading
on the Kremlin's 'sore toe'".
What another of our sources close to the military circles said in this
regard can be considered sensational. The source said that Moscow is
"taxing" Baku because it suddenly increased the lease payment for
the Qabala radar station from 15m dollars to 300m dollars. Thus,
a signal was sent to the authorities that Russia will drastically
increase the price of its weapons in new contracts.
"Russia offered weapons to Azerbaijan at the prices above those on
the international market. Naturally, this does not suit Azerbaijan and
therefore the signing of new contracts was halted," the source said.
Our source pointed out that arms contracts carried special significance
in interstate diplomacy. "Buying weapons from one country means that I
can trust you and rely on you never directing these weapons at me. If
the opposite of this happens, you draw the conclusions..."
Although Russia has not directed weapons at Azerbaijan for some time
now it has built up an army on our northern borders and deployed S-400
type anti-aircraft missile complexes. These missiles are capable of
hitting any target at 400 km and have no analogues in the world.
Furthermore, Russia has also reinforced its troops in Armenia.
Let us note that in recent years Azerbaijan has bought large batches of
weapons from Israel. However, contracts with Israel would never make
Russia unhappy with Azerbaijan. It seems that relations between the
two sides have worsened to the degree where even military contracts
are in jeopardy. The 20th anniversary of establishing relations with
Russia was marked in April. Experts say that in the past 20 years
relations with Russia have never been this strained. And up ahead
Azerbaijan, or to put it more precisely, the government is facing a
vital presidential election...
[Translated from Azeri]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Yeni Musavat, Azerbaijan
April 2 2013
Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan that began to sour from the
middle of 2012 have further worsened in recent months. Although Baku
officially denies these reports, hard facts show that relations are
increasingly chilly. According to azeridefence.com website, all talks
on procurement by Azerbaijan of new weapons and military hardware
from Russia have been stopped.
The report quoted sources in the military and said that this
step was taken after Russia disagreed to the price Azerbaijan
proposed for renting the Qabala radar station and gave up on the
station. Thus Azerbaijan's negotiations on procurement of new rescue
helicopters, T-90S tanks, BMP T armoured personnel carriers, as well as
surface-to-air missiles (the name of the missiles was not disclosed)
from Russia were stopped and Baku gave up on buying these pieces
of hardware.
Currently Russia is making deliveries on the contracts that were signed
in previous years. On 1 April Yeni Musavat researched this topic from
other sources. A military expert said that there may be two reasons
why this report was leaked: "It is possible that it is correct and
Azerbaijan has completely stopped buying weapons from Russia. The
second version is that Baku wants to take this step and wishes to
study the Kremlin's reaction. At any rate, this shows to what extent
relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are strained. When relations
between the two countries worsen this first of all affects military
contracts. The reason is simple. According to official figures, in
the past five years Azerbaijan ordered weapons and military hardware
worth 1.7bn dollars from Russia."
The expert said that Russia is one of the biggest weapon vendors
internationally and Russian President Vladimir Putin has a major
stake in this: "Putin recently signed a contract on sale of weapons to
India for several billion dollars. Compared to this contract weapons
that Azerbaijan buys and payments it makes seem negligible. However,
Russia and Putin, as I pointed out, have always been sensitive to this
matter and it seems that the authorities are deliberately treading
on the Kremlin's 'sore toe'".
What another of our sources close to the military circles said in this
regard can be considered sensational. The source said that Moscow is
"taxing" Baku because it suddenly increased the lease payment for
the Qabala radar station from 15m dollars to 300m dollars. Thus,
a signal was sent to the authorities that Russia will drastically
increase the price of its weapons in new contracts.
"Russia offered weapons to Azerbaijan at the prices above those on
the international market. Naturally, this does not suit Azerbaijan and
therefore the signing of new contracts was halted," the source said.
Our source pointed out that arms contracts carried special significance
in interstate diplomacy. "Buying weapons from one country means that I
can trust you and rely on you never directing these weapons at me. If
the opposite of this happens, you draw the conclusions..."
Although Russia has not directed weapons at Azerbaijan for some time
now it has built up an army on our northern borders and deployed S-400
type anti-aircraft missile complexes. These missiles are capable of
hitting any target at 400 km and have no analogues in the world.
Furthermore, Russia has also reinforced its troops in Armenia.
Let us note that in recent years Azerbaijan has bought large batches of
weapons from Israel. However, contracts with Israel would never make
Russia unhappy with Azerbaijan. It seems that relations between the
two sides have worsened to the degree where even military contracts
are in jeopardy. The 20th anniversary of establishing relations with
Russia was marked in April. Experts say that in the past 20 years
relations with Russia have never been this strained. And up ahead
Azerbaijan, or to put it more precisely, the government is facing a
vital presidential election...
[Translated from Azeri]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress