Tweet
VLADIMIR YEVSEYEV: "ONLY TWO STATES IN THE CIS CAN AFFORD RUSSIAN ARMS"
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
July 23 2013
23 July 2013 - 9:57am
Interview by Vestnik Kavkaza
Recently the official statistics of selling Russian arms abroad has
been published. It turned out that, among the post-Soviet countries,
Azerbaijan purchases the biggest volumes of Russian arms; in general
it takes 5th place, with 5% of purchases. Azerbaijan yields to India
(40%), Algeria (14%), Vietnam (10%), and China (slightly over 5%). The
rest of the CIS countries purchased 4.2% of Russian weapons. Vestnik
Kavkaza interviewed the head of the Socio-Political Research Center,
the political scientist Vladimir Yevseyev, on the reasons for the
growing arms exports from Russia to Azerbaijan.
- What do you think about the fact that Azerbaijan is a leader among
the CIS countries in purchasing Russian armaments?
- I think it is a coincidence of the contracts signed during the
presidency of Dmitry Medvedev. As it is time to fulfil the contracts,
Azerbaijan becomes a leader among countries to where Russian armaments
are exported. Russia enforced the military base in Gyumri to maintain
the balance of power in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. So there will be
no similar exports in the near future. Any improvement of the forces of
the one side of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict demands a rebalancing
of forces. This could lead to a worsening of the situation under
certain conditions. I don't think this should be allowed, because
Ilham Aliyev will win the elections in October and will meet Russian
authorities to reduce tensions in the region.
At the same time, the fact of arms exports to the region of the South
Caucasus raises specific questions.
- Does Azerbaijan prefer to purchase more armaments than others? Or do
other countries prefer to cooperate with other producers of weapons,
rather than with Russia?
- It should be understood that almost all countries of the post-Soviet
space use Soviet, Russian armaments. The only exception is Georgia
which, nevertheless, also uses Russian, Soviet armaments.
Azerbaijan is the only country at war in the region. Other states,
including Georgia, have no need to purchase armaments. Secondly,
Azerbaijan has the resources to buy weapons. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
would like to buy more weapons, but they lack finances. Kazakhstan
is a Central Asian state that can afford weapons, although it has no
such demand. Azerbaijan needs to strengthen its sovereignty and build
strong armed forces, because it doesn't exclude the possibility of
a military scenario in the Nagorno-Karabakh developments.
- Can Azerbaijan draw ahead of China, which takes the 4th place
this year?
- We cannot compare Azerbaijan and China, because their potentials are
disparate. Last year purchases were timely. This year, I don't think
Russia will see large arms exports to Azerbaijan. On the one hand,
Azerbaijan has other partners in the sphere. Russia is not the only
partner. On the other hand, Russia wouldn't like to see an imbalance
between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is impossible to draw ahead of
China. If Russia stops exporting some completed systems to China,
it improves export of details, services of machines which have been
exported earlier, and so on.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/interviews/politics/42949.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
July 23 2013
23 July 2013 - 9:57am
Interview by Vestnik Kavkaza
Recently the official statistics of selling Russian arms abroad has
been published. It turned out that, among the post-Soviet countries,
Azerbaijan purchases the biggest volumes of Russian arms; in general
it takes 5th place, with 5% of purchases. Azerbaijan yields to India
(40%), Algeria (14%), Vietnam (10%), and China (slightly over 5%). The
rest of the CIS countries purchased 4.2% of Russian weapons. Vestnik
Kavkaza interviewed the head of the Socio-Political Research Center,
the political scientist Vladimir Yevseyev, on the reasons for the
growing arms exports from Russia to Azerbaijan.
- What do you think about the fact that Azerbaijan is a leader among
the CIS countries in purchasing Russian armaments?
- I think it is a coincidence of the contracts signed during the
presidency of Dmitry Medvedev. As it is time to fulfil the contracts,
Azerbaijan becomes a leader among countries to where Russian armaments
are exported. Russia enforced the military base in Gyumri to maintain
the balance of power in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. So there will be
no similar exports in the near future. Any improvement of the forces of
the one side of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict demands a rebalancing
of forces. This could lead to a worsening of the situation under
certain conditions. I don't think this should be allowed, because
Ilham Aliyev will win the elections in October and will meet Russian
authorities to reduce tensions in the region.
At the same time, the fact of arms exports to the region of the South
Caucasus raises specific questions.
- Does Azerbaijan prefer to purchase more armaments than others? Or do
other countries prefer to cooperate with other producers of weapons,
rather than with Russia?
- It should be understood that almost all countries of the post-Soviet
space use Soviet, Russian armaments. The only exception is Georgia
which, nevertheless, also uses Russian, Soviet armaments.
Azerbaijan is the only country at war in the region. Other states,
including Georgia, have no need to purchase armaments. Secondly,
Azerbaijan has the resources to buy weapons. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
would like to buy more weapons, but they lack finances. Kazakhstan
is a Central Asian state that can afford weapons, although it has no
such demand. Azerbaijan needs to strengthen its sovereignty and build
strong armed forces, because it doesn't exclude the possibility of
a military scenario in the Nagorno-Karabakh developments.
- Can Azerbaijan draw ahead of China, which takes the 4th place
this year?
- We cannot compare Azerbaijan and China, because their potentials are
disparate. Last year purchases were timely. This year, I don't think
Russia will see large arms exports to Azerbaijan. On the one hand,
Azerbaijan has other partners in the sphere. Russia is not the only
partner. On the other hand, Russia wouldn't like to see an imbalance
between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is impossible to draw ahead of
China. If Russia stops exporting some completed systems to China,
it improves export of details, services of machines which have been
exported earlier, and so on.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/interviews/politics/42949.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress