By supplying Armenia with powerful weapons, Russia practically proves its allegiance to the strategic ally, a former minister of defense said today, commenting on the Russian-Armenian arms supply deal.

“Those are the kinds of weapons which are never sold to any country at all. Different points are being considered here. [The mobile ballistic missile] Iskander and its predecessor, SCUD, can use a nuclear cap-binding complex, and that, understandably, cannot be given to a state which my become a non-ally (if not an enemy) sometime in the future,” he said, adding that only Armenia and Russia possess those weapons.

Asked whether he sees any political motive, Harutyunyan ruled out such a possibility. “It cannot be political; it has a military significance which serves a political objective to restrain Azerbaijan from yet another silly step.”

Harutyunyan said he doesn’t think Russia will sell more powerful weapons to Azerbaijan. “A more powerful weapon is [the missile system] S-400, which it will never give to any country,” he said, noting that a renewed war in the South Caucasus would not be in Russia’s interests.