Prime Minister of Armenia: Arms procurement from Russia on normal track

Arms procurement from Russia under a credit agreement is on normal track. There are neither problems nor delays, Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan has told journalists. The prime minister disagrees with the views that the authorities of the country are short of financial resources to equip the Armed Forces of Armenia. Earlier this month, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with Deutsche Welle that the Armenian army “wars with weapons of 1980s.” The given statement sparked heavy criticism of the leadership. The opponents say the country's leadership embezzles the budget funds instead of buying advanced weapons. Meantime, the prime minister disclaimed criticism saying there is enough financial resources to buy advanced weapons for the army.

EADaily reported earlier that the government of Armenia adopted a protocol on April 15 to start implementing the loan agreement with Russia for US$200 million for arms supply.  The Defense Ministry was charged to specify the list, the cost, and the quantity of the weapons to be procured from Russia, as well as to discuss and sign an agreement on the arms supply with the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation and Rosoboronexport JSC.  The Russian loan was provided for a period of 10 years. By preliminary data, the payment for the weapons will be made in terms of the Russian rubles. Armenia is expected to buy from Russia the following weapons: Smerch rocket launching systems and the necessary ammunition, IGLA-S air defense missile systems with the necessary missiles, Avtobaza-M radar jamming systems, TOS-1A flamethrower systems, 9М113М rockets, RPG-26 grenade launchers, Dragunov sniper rifles and Tiger armored cars, engineer assets and communications gear.