Azernews.Az

YEREVAN – Armenia has confirmed that it possesses S-300 missiles, one of the world’s most effective missile defense systems.

Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian toured the country’s missile defense facility at the weekend, Radio Liberty's Armenian Service reported.

The S-300 anti-aircraft missiles with a range of 200 km were stationed in the South Caucasus republic after it signed a security deal with Russia in the late 1990s.

Defense Ministry spokesman David Karapetian formally confirmed Armenia’s possessing such weapons by saying that Minister Ohanian had inspected the facilities. He did not elaborate on the volume of S-300 missiles but said the Armenian armed forces have been holding exercises to practice the use of such missiles since 2005.

So far, Yerevan has avoided clear-cut comments on the S-300 missiles available on its soil, which allow simultaneous tracking of up to 100 targets. Its confirming the possession of such weapons now is said to be linked to earlier reports about Russian sales of S-300 missiles to Azerbaijan.

The reports claimed that Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry and Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport had signed a contract in 2009 for the delivery of S-300 missiles worth $300 million to Azerbaijan. The company later dismissed the reports.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for two decades. 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory has been under Armenian occupation since the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy war.