Armenia blamed for seeking to wreak havoc on Azerbaijani-Russian relations
By Sabina Mammadli
In an attempt to wreak havoc between Baku and Moscow, Armenia goes to great pains in an effort to make a big deal out of nothing by resorting to wide-ranging stratagems.
It is an open secret that Azerbaijan has strong ties with its neighbors, which never seizes to infuriate Armenia. In this regard, the latest report of Armenian media claiming that Azerbaijani 82-mm 20N5 mortars were seen in service with the Ukrainian army is another pathetic shot in the direction of destroying Azerbaijani-Russian relations.
The reality is far simpler than that, Azerbaijan does indeed produce 20N5 82mm "NATO" caliber mortars at the factories of the Defense Industry Ministry. Moreover, it is known that Azerbaijan was negotiating to export the 20N5 82mm mortar to a number of countries in the Middle East and Africa back in 2015. Even though there is no information on Azerbaijan directly supplying these mortars to Ukraine, they could have appeared there through the countries that procured them first-hand.
Armenia’s unfounded and empty claims about weapons sales to Ukraine are exaggerated as Azerbaijan sells weapons to several countries and the resale of them is up to the countries who purchased them. Under the Ministry of Defense Industry, Azerbaijani weapons and military equipment are exported to more than 30 countries.
In a similar fashion, a Facebook post of Armenian MP Tigran Abramyan of the I Have Honor Alliance previously indicted Azerbaijan of “anti-Russian propaganda”. The MP claimed that an alleged hatred towards Russians was generated in Azerbaijan.
What provokes Armenia here is the fact that unlike it, Azerbaijan has strong ties with both Russia and Ukraine.
As a country that underwent a long and painful occupation and bloody wars, Azerbaijan fully supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity and condemns the war.
At this point, it is worthy to bring up that despite all of Armenia’s claims of Azerbaijan’s “anti-Russian policy”, on March 25, four Su-30 fighters are said to have taken off from Armenia and flown to Russia to be used against Ukraine. This is a clear indication that as usual, Armenia overlooks attempts for regional peace and rather contributes to the conflict's escalation.
Moreover, Armenia expresses concern over the correlation between the signing of the Moscow Declaration between Russia and Azerbaijan and the so-called anti-Russian narrative.
If they are not aware, it should be pointed out that Article 9 of the declaration stipulates that “the parties will refrain from any actions, including those carried out through third states, directed against each other”.
All of the above is a clear sign of the Armenian policy to alienate Azerbaijan from its neighbors, which is doomed to failure.
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Sabina Mammadli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SabinaMmdl
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