Acquisition of Iskander by Armenia serious restrictive measure for Azerbaijan: Vladimir Yevseev

The creation of direct communication between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will not promote the reduction of tension in the Nagorno Karabakh territory, CIS Institute deputy director Vladimir Yevseev said at the Lazarev Club session that continued its works today.

“The issue that the direct communication established between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will promote reduction of tension in Nagorno Karabakh territory is currently being discussed in Armenia. I think it will not be so,” he said.

He stressed that only Armenian-Russian close military-political cooperation is the guarantor of Karabakh’s security.

“This is the circumstance that does not allow Azerbaijan and Turkey to carry out military actions in Karabakh and Armenia,” he noted.

The expert said that the situation in the Nagorno Karabakh territory is not favorable for either Artsakh or Armenian armies as Azerbaijani Armed Forces have privileges regarding the quality of ammunitions.

“It has been possible to liquidate this privilege by supplying contemporary weaponry to Armenia. Acquisition of Iskander gave Armenia an opportunity to state about possibility of response attack to Baku which became a restrictive circumstance for Azerbaijan,” he said.

The expert said that not only the quantity is important but the quality as well. He stressed that Azerbaijan is trying to acquire high-quality weaponry.

“If Azerbaijan succeeds in registering quality privilege over Armenia it may result in growth of escalation level. I want to stress that any changes of border in such case may result not only in loss of security zone but the whole territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Each discussions over border change and over handing any territory will allow Azerbaijan to undertake operation over invasion of the whole Karabakh,” he said.

He also said that Baku does not have any weapon equivalent to Iskander but it will continue searching for partners to acquire such kind of weapon.