The Armenian Armed Forces remain one of the most efficient armies in the post-Soviet territory, despite a rapid arms build-up of Azerbaijan, well-known Russian military expert, editor-in-chief of the magazine ‘National Defense’ Igor Korotchenko said in an interview to ArmInfo news agency, according to ‘Novoye Vremya’ newspaper.

“This factor is possibly the most important in ensuring a balance of forces in Nagorno Karabakh, and in fact, on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border as well,” he stressed.

According to him, Russia is directly interested in keeping the balance and it takes all possible steps in that direction as the parity of forces is a guarantee of peace and stability – although relative – in the South Caucasus.