Azernews.Az

Armenia exists by using foreign grants, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies under the Azerbaijani President Farhad Mammadov told the press on Wednesday.

He said that some $8 billion was allocated to Armenia in 2011 and $2 billion this year.

"Armenia did not come to its senses after the global economic crisis of 2008, but increased its defense expenditure," he said.

He said the country's military spending is 15-16 per cent of the state budget expenditure. "This is too much for such a small, poor country."

Mammadov said further that provocations were observed on the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces on the eve of the presidential elections due in Armenia in February 2013.

"They seek to divert attention of the country's population from the economic and social problems, as well as to elevate Karabakh generals as patriots," he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.