The army or war games

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Moscow, August 23.  Prior to  his visit to Baku Shoigu received  Davir Tonyan, the Minister of Defense of Armenia within the framework of the  Fourth International Army Games "ARMY-2020". However, according to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the scope of the meeting was by no means a game. The parties discussed issues of regional security and bilateral cooperation. Tonyan informed his counterpart about the military-political situation in the region after the July hostilities, as well as about the operational situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border and the contact line.

At the meeting, Tonyan pointed out, "The aggressive rhetoric and military steps of some countries are aimed at militarizing and destabilizing the region." The message does not indicate which countries Tonyan talked about with Shoigu. However, before Tonyan's visit to Moscow, President Armen Sarkisian in an interview with the Syrian newspaper “Al-Azmenah” indicated, that, “First of all, the talk is about the aggressive rhetoric of Turkey. It uses against Armenia a vocabulary inappropriate for international relations... The second aspect is Azerbaijan, which wants to pose Armenia as a threat to international energy infrastructures in the region and, in particular, on the territory of Azerbaijan. "

In turn, Shoigu stressed the importance of steps aimed at strengthening stability on the part of all countries. The ministers, stressing the strategic nature of the Armenian-Russian relations, discussed and agreed on the forthcoming military cooperation.

Baku, August 25. At the residence “Zagulba” of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Shoigu made excuses in connection with the supply of 400 tons of military cargo to Yerevan after the Tovuz clashes on July 12-14. The Russian minister called their appointment "social" and addressed to the 102nd base of the Russian Federation in Armenia. “There is some insignificant activity connected with this. The second part is the draft campaign. Someone had to return home, and vice versa, said Shoigu, responding to the concern of the Azerbaijani side expressed in connection with the "400 tons of military cargo" sent to Armenia by Russia. Thus, he tried to explain the deliveries, which caused discontent in Azerbaijan and became the subject of a telephone conversation between Aliyev and Putin on August 12.

During a meeting with Shoigu, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov noted that Armenia's aggressive policy is a serious threat to peace, stability and security not only in Azerbaijan, but also throughout the region. Referring to the recent provocations committed by the Armenian side in the direction of the Tovuz region, Hasanov noted that they were aimed at undermining relations between Azerbaijan and the CIS countries.

Just like at the meeting with Tonyan, Shoigu discussed with Hasanov issues of international and regional security, the current state of military cooperation and prospects for the development of relations, which are of mutual interest in the field of military-technical cooperation.

Of course, it is unlikely that Shoigu's visit was related to the “Sea Cup”, which he opened with his Azerbaijani counterpart. The chronicle of the expected events of the Defense Minister of the Russian Federation suggests that Shoigu met with Tonyan, Aliyev and Hasanov to agree on the agenda of a joint meeting of the defense ministers of the  countries –members of the three organizations,  the CIS, the SCO and the CSTO in terms of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. The event is scheduled for September. The CIS is the only organization where Azerbaijan is a full member. In the SCO, it is a dialogue partner, but it is not in the CSTO at all. However, it is known that during the Tovuz crisis, the CSTO did not support its member - Armenia in the conflict and acted as an arbitration party as a pacifying party.

We should expect that, using the framework of the September joint meeting of the three organizations, Moscow will try to bring Tonyan and Hasanov to a consensus and, most importantly, avoid any excesses at the meeting. This is most likely the visit of Shoigu to Baku.

Moscow, August 26. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov had talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was the inviting party. The organization of the meeting could also serve the purpose of avoiding conflict at the September meeting of defense ministers. At the meeting, Lavrov tried to appease Bayramov. We discussed the details of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the need to create an atmosphere for achieving results on a peaceful settlement, Lavrov said at the final press conference.