Stepanakert hopes: Kremlin will maintain a balanced position on the sale of Baku`s armament

ArmInfo. Armenia should not take offense at Russia for its interaction with Azerbaijan. A spokesman for Artsakh President David Babayan expressed such a viewpoint in a conversation with ArmInfo correspondent, referring to the Putin-Aliyev meeting in Sochi on September 1.

He reminded that Russia pursues a multi-vector policy, and such kind of meetings do not mean that there can be negative processes in the process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. "I believe that Russia's cooperation with Azerbaijan is also a guarantee of stability in the region, although we have repeatedly stated that it is impossible to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the defense sphere, as this is a terrorist state," Babayan said, and in this context he recalled that Azerbaijani mercenaries are considered one of the most severe, which was proved in the battles in Syria, Afghanistan and other conflict zones.

The representative of the President of Artsakh also stated that after the well-known April events of 2016, Russia revised its position on the issue of arms sales to Azerbaijan, and Aliyev's statements are more declarative. "We will hope that the Kremlin will maintain a balanced position on the sale of arms to Baku, and even if Azerbaijan buys new weapons from the Russian side, then Armenia will receive their more modern modification," Babayan said.

He also expressed the conviction that Armenia should continue the complementary policy. "We simply have to maintain normal relations with Russia, where we have the largest community, and the US, Iran and other countries.It is impossible not to take into account the interests of our compatriots abroad." Also, we should not forget that in our neighbors countries such as Turkey and Azerbaijan, "Babayan concluded.

To recall, on 1 September, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in Sochi after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the republic had purchased more than $ 5 billion worth of Russian military-technical equipment. "And this has a tendency to grow," Aliyev said. He added that Azerbaijan is now continuing to modernize its Armed Forces.

He also stressed that he discussed with the Russian counterpart the issues related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the regional problems.