Expert: "Russia will continue to arm Azerbaijan"

Baku / 28.06.17 / Turan: A few days ago the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan announced the delivery of 42 echelons of weapons and military equipment. The purchased weapons arrived at the Baku port from Russia. Although the Ministry of Defense did not announce the name of the equipment, however, it published photographs in which military experts spotted the anti-tank missile systems Chrysanthemum-C, the command-staff vehicle 9R 157-4 and missiles. Last month, Russia also supplied Azerbaijan with a large batch of military equipment. Why should Russia equip Azerbaijan so much, which is not its ally against its ally Armenia?

"The first such equipment, which included the complex" Chrysanthemum-S, "we received from Russia in 2015," said military expert Uzeyir Jafarov. "It's arrival coincided with last year's April events on the front line. Armenians then received a powerful blow, struck by "Chrysanthemum-S" and anti-tank guided Spike missiles, acquired in Israel.

Now there is much noise that in case of resumption of hostilities, Armenian engineering structures, tanks and infantry have no chance of salvation. Because Chrysanthemum has a radar system that detects heavy equipment and structures, and then destroys them.

Russian military experts, including Alexander Khramchikhin, say that Azerbaijan decided this time to start the war first and last, and therefore buys Russian military equipment. This is not true. Azerbaijan has previously bought weapons from Russia, Israel, Pakistan, Turkey, Ukraine, and this does not mean that the war is about to begin. Yes, the fighting can begin at any moment, because our lands have been occupied, and if negotiations fail, we will have to resort to military actions, where these guided missiles will be used. Weapons delivered a few years ago are not the last. Russia before the end of the year should supply Azerbaijan with other types of military equipment and weapons, which will be transferred to the disposal of the Azerbaijani army. Azerbaijan has fully paid for these weapons," U.Jafarov added.

"Russia just wants to sell weapons, it's her business," said political analyst Hikmet Hajizadeh. "Russia needs money. The strategic part of the arms trade is that the buying country is attached to the seller country, because it needs spare parts, etc. Therefore, Russia willingly sells weapons to all.

When Azerbaijan had money, it bought weapons from far abroad; and from Russia it bought weapons to appease its neighbor, saying that we are your friends. Russia does not fear that Azerbaijan will start a war with Armenia using this weapon, because it can control this process. If Azerbaijan begins an attack on Armenia, without Russia"s consent then Russia will necessarily intervene, military aircrafts without identification signs will fly over us. I think that Azerbaijan does not intend to start a war, what will be further is unknown.

Of course, Armenia will object to large arms deliveries to Azerbaijan, the Armenian public is very concerned about this. However, Russia can calm them down, they say, do not worry, if Azerbaijan starts the war, we will suppress it, we simply earn money. Russia really can suppress the weapons that it sells, because it has much more powerful weapon. Russia is confident that it will be able to regulate the situation, and say stop when necessary. We saw this during the four-day April fights. They could last a long time, Azerbaijan had all the possibilities for this, but Russia said "stop." Therefore, the relations between Armenia and Russia because of the weapons sold to Azerbaijan will not deteriorate," Hajizada said.

The Chrysanthemum-C, based on the BMP-3, is the world's only anti-tank missile system capable of detecting and destroying targets without optical visibility in conditions of smoke, fog and snow at any time of the day thanks to the radar and optical-laser channels. 15 missiles, included in the ammunition "Chrysanthemums" can hit targets at a distance of up to 6 km. In this case, the "Chrysanthemum-S" can move with equal ease off-road at a speed of 70 km/h.

According to the high-precision complexes, the battery of three Chrysanthemum-S war machines is able to repel an attack of a tank company of 14 vehicles, destroying at least 60% of the advancing tanks, according to a press release from Rostekh. -0 ---