Azernews.Az

MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has not dismissed circulating reports about the planned sale of S-300 missiles to Azerbaijan.

In an interview with the Armenian Public Television on Wednesday on the eve of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Armenia, Lavrov said S-300 missiles were defensive weapons deployed exclusively for missile defense of a territory and do not destabilize the situation. Lavrov emphasized that Russia supplies all types of arms in full compliance with international law.

He further said the S-300 missile defense systems have become "a sort of an alarm signal".

"Earlier there were reports about a deal with Iran, similar panic was caused regarding other countries, and now there are rumors about the deal with Azerbaijan. There are some views suggesting that if any country purchases S-300 systems, it will violate the stability. Russia would never sell weaponry to those regions where these supplies would undermine regional security and stability, no matter whether it is the South Caucasus, the Middle East or any other region in the world."

Russian business daily Vedomosti claimed earlier that Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry and Rosoboronexport signed a contract in 2009 for the delivery of S-300 air defense missile systems worth $300 million to Azerbaijan. The newspaper quoted an unnamed Russian military official as saying that the purchase would unlikely change the balance of power between Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia, which have been at odds for almost two decades over the rebel region of Nagorno Karabakh. None of the countries has modern fighter jets, cruise or ballistic missiles which S-300 air defense systems are designed to intercept.

Lavrov said a fresh war in the South Caucasus would be disastrous, voicing confidence that "not a single state intends to launch military action". He said that in August 2008 Georgia sought to resolve the South Ossetian problem by force, voicing firm confidence that there will be no such attempts between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"I have participated in the meeting among Presidents Sargsyan and Aliyev with Medvedev; all the three presidents put their signatures under documents which do not allow the use of force and affirm their commitment to solve the problems regarding the Nagorno Karabakh exclusively by peaceful means," Lavrov said.

Azerbaijan has been facing a conflict with Armenia that began in 1988 on Armenian territorial claims. Since the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, despite four standing UN resolutions on unconditional pullout of Armenian troops and condemnation by a number of other international organizations.