Countries selling weapons to Azerbaijan contribute to an arms race that fuels instability in the region, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
“What is business for some is a deadly instrument for our people,” the ministry spokeswoman, Anna Naghdalian, told reporters.
Naghdalian cited Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanian’s recent calls for OSCE member states to “reconsider” arms deals with Azerbaijan. She did not name any of those countries, saying only that Yerevan believes “the arms race in the region must be stopped.”
Russia has long been Azerbaijan’s leading arms supplier despite its military alliance with Armenia. Baku has also purchased significant amounts of military hardware from Belarus, another member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Those include Polonez surface-to-surface missiles that have a firing range of up to 200 kilometers.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko last week bluntly dismissed Armenian complains about his regime’s arms deals with Azerbaijan. He said Yerevan should first raise its concerns with the Russians because they have sold a much larger number of offensive weapons to Baku.
Russia is also the principal source of weapons provided to the Armenian military. Membership in the CSTO allows Armenia to acquire Russian-made weapons at discounted prices or even for free.