Armenia will continue buying Russian weapons despite possible sanctions from the United States, Deputy Defense Minister David Pakhchanyan said at a news conference today.
“Of course, sanctions are a problem, but the issue of security is a top priority to us, and we’ll be guided by our interests first,” the Deputy Minister said.
“The Armenian Russian cooperation in this field is very fruitful. We have received weapons worth $200 million under the first contract signed between the two countries. We have agreed on starting the second stage worth $100 million,” Pakhchanyan said.
He added that Armenia cooperates with other countries, as well. Pakhchanyan said Armenia has established good ties with countries with well-developed military industry, such as Serbia, China and Poland.
David Pakhchanyan noted that the supply of Russian weapons to Azerbaijan cannot but worry Armenia and welcomed the recent statements by Russian officials that the volume of supply will be reduces after the 2016 April war.
March 29-31, during the ArmHiTec-2018 International Exhibition of Arms and Defense Technologies in Yerevan, a joint meeting of the Russian Military Industrial Commission council is expected to discuss military and economic cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
