Armenia accelerates its arms purchases from Russia

April 18, 2016 By administrator

arton124898-480x270 Two weeks after the sudden escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian government accelerated Friday the purchase of new weapons made in Russia, with the Russian loan of $ 200 million granted last year.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan instructed the Defense Ministry to “determine” the list of weapons and negotiate corresponding supply contracts with Russian government agencies. He said that contracts should specify “the volumes, prices and delivery dates.”

The government has also asked the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) to rapidly accelerate banking needed to use the loan to $ 200 million allocated by the Russian government in June.

After meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev Russian in Yerevan on April 7 Abrahamian complained of a “slowdown” in the implementation of the loan agreement with Rosoboronexport, a state arms exporter Russia. He asked Medvedev to ask of Rosoboronexport “concluded contracts” with Armenia.

The demand came two days after a cease-fire with Russian mediation, interrupted the worst fighting between Armenian forces and Azerbaijani forces in Karabakh since 1994. Many in Armenia believe that the offense Azerbaijan from April 2 to Karabakh was made possible because of the Russian offensive weapons purchased by Baku.

There are nearly two months, the Russian government revealed the list of military equipment that Yerevan would be allowed to buy with credit of $ 200 million. The most deadly of these weapons is the multi-shot system Smerch launch, which has a firing range of up to 90 kilometers.

The list also includes the TOS-1A (heavy flamethrower systems).

Russia has sold 18 Smerch launchers and flamethrowers as TOS-1A to Azerbaijan. The Armenian military says the Azerbaijani army has used both systems during the hostilities of April 2 to 5 on the contact line of Karabakh.

Armenia would also be able to buy weapons from Russian anti-tank fabrication, surface to air missiles fired from the shoulder, demining equipment, armored vehicles and heavy military trucks.

Monday, April 18, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

Erdogan blocks Russia’s Sputnik news website

April 15, 2016 By administrator

n_97844_1 Turkey’s Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication (TİB) has blocked access to Russia’s state news agency website Sputnik, without issuing prior notification, citing “legal consideration” of a law regarding crimes committed through online broadcasts.

“After technical analysis and legal consideration based on Law No. 5651, an administration measure has been taken for this website (sputniknews.com) according to decision No. 490.05.01.2016.-56092, dated 14/04/2016, of the Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication,” reads an error message that appears when users attempt to access the website from Turkey.

Sputnik Turkey editor-in-chief Mahir Boztepe announced the blockage on his Twitter account, adding that Turkish users were denied entry not only to the agency’s Turkish website but also to all its websites in 31 languages.

“Access blockage to Sputnik from TİB. No justification, many pretexts,” Boztepe tweeted, adding a message addressed to the Turkish media: “Do not fear, these days shall pass.”

No one was available for comment at Turkey’s telecoms and Internet regulatory agency, Reuters reported.

In a statement, Sputnik’s top editor, Margarita Simonyan, described the block as “a further act of harsh censorship” in Turkey and said the site had been blocked late on April 14, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin made comments criticizing “some political leaders” in Turkey.

Turkey faced strong criticism from both the European Parliament and the U.S. State Department on April 15, after the former’s progress report and the latter’s annual human rights report slammed the country for a sharp deterioration in civil rights and liberties.

Relations between Ankara and Moscow have been tense since Nov. 24, 2015, when the former downed a Russian warplane on the Turkish border with Syria, citing an airspace violation. Turkey claims that it warned the Russian aircraft multiple times before shooting it down, while Russia denies any warnings reaching its side.

Following the jet downing, Putin imposed sanctions on Turkey and trade between the two countries has plummeted.

Armenia, Russia, Iran and Georgia Sign Energy Accord

April 13, 2016 By administrator

ArmeniaIranGeorgiaRussia YEREVAN (Arka)—Energy ministers of Armenia, Russia, Iran, and the deputy energy minister of Georgia signed a “road map” for building the North-South Energy Corridor during a meeting in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Armenia’s Deputy Energy Minister Areg Galstyan said after the signing ceremony, the “road map” formalized the steps and programs that will be implemented until 2019, when the energy corridor is supposed to be launched.

According to Galstyan, when the construction of power transmission lines between Armenia and Iran as well as Armenia and Georgia is over, it will enable parallel operation of power systems of the four countries, as they operated during the Soviet Union.

Galstyan also said the North-South Energy Corridor will be used primarily for seasonal electricity swaps through third countries. After the full launch of the corridor, its capacity will reach about 1,000 MW.

He said with Iranian funding, Armenian and Iran will build a power transmission line. Another line will be built between Armenia and Georgia with funding from the German KfW bank.

The Armenian government said after last year’s meeting with the energy ministers and the chief executive of a leading Russian electric utility, the four countries agreed to build a common energy market after the construction of two new power transmission lines connecting Armenia with Georgia and Iran.

Hell From Above: Russian Aviation to Help Syrian Army Liberate Aleppo

April 10, 2016 By administrator

Moscow and Damascus are elaborating a joint operation to liberate Aleppo from terrorists, the Syrian prime minister said.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — The Russian Aerospace Forces’ aircraft will help the Syrian army liberate Aleppo from terrorist groups, Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader Halqi said Sunday as quoted by a Russian lawmaker.

“Halqi told us that Syria and Russia are preparing an operation to liberate Aleppo. Russian aviation will help the Syrian army to attack on the ground,” Russian upper house member Dmitry Sablin told RIA Novosti.

A group of Russian lawmakers is currently visiting the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Moscow commenced an anti-terrorism operation in Syria on September 30 at President Bashar Assad’s request. On March 14, Vladimir Putin ordered to start withdrawing the main part of the Russian air group from Syria. Moscow maintained its presence at the Hmeymin airbase and the Tartus naval facility.

Russia Plays Major Role in Liberating Over 500 Syrian Settlements

“The Syrian people will never forget the assistance provided by the Russian people. First of all, it concerns the decision of [Russian] President Vladimir Putin on the involvement of Russian Aerospace Forces in the operation to support the Syrian army on the ground. More than 500 settlements with a total area of 40,000 square kilometers were liberated thanks to it,” Halqi added.

On March 27, the Syrian army, backed by militias and Russian Aerospace Forces, fully liberated Palmyra, which was under the control of Daesh since May 2015.

Syria has been mired in civil war since March 2011, with government forces loyal to Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups, such as Daesh and the Nusra Front. A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire came into force across Syria on February 27. It does not apply to terrorist groups such as Daesh and Nusra Front, both of which are banned in Russia.

Source: sputniknews.com/

Russia to continue its arms sales to Armenia, Azerbaijan: Medvedev

April 9, 2016 By administrator

Russia will continue its arms sales to both Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview broadcast on Saturday, April 9, Reuters reports.

Medvedev, who traveled to both Armenia and Azerbaijan this week, said Russia had no intention to halt its arms sales to any side of the conflict.

“If we imagine for a minute that Russia has given up this role (of arms seller), we well understand that this place will not stay vacant,” Medvedev told the weekly “Vesti on Saturday” program on Russian state TV.

“They will buy weapons in other countries, and the degree of their deadliness won’t change in any way,” he said. “But at the same time, this could … destroy the existing balance of forces (in the region).”

Moscow believes the possible involvement of other major arms exporters to the region “will most likely complicate the situation further.”

“I believe weapons may and should be bought not only to be used one day, but to be a deterrent factor,” Medvedev said.

“This aspect must be considered by both sides of the conflict.”

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral ceasefire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, on the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As many as 46 Karabakh servicemen were killed and 122 were wounded in the course of military operations.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 11 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drones, whereas the Armenian side’s photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs. Opposition media outlets, however, reported on the death of 81 Azerbaijani soldiers, stating that 6 more have gone missing. According to Karabakh authorities, 300 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in clashes.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.

Reuters. Russia says won’t halt arms sales to arch foes Armenia and Azerbaijan

Armenia President: A pity that Russia and other CSTO countries sell weapons to Azerbaijan

April 6, 2016 By administrator

default68 Russia is our strategic ally, we are CSTO (Collective Security TreatyOrganization) member countries, and it is truly regrettable for us that not only Russia, but also other members of the same organization sell weapons to Azerbaijan.

The President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, on Wednesday stated the aforesaid at his joint news conference, in Berlin, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He added that Armenia has a limited capacity to have any bearing on this process.

“Azerbaijan has modern weapons, and the [recent] three-day military actions [in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone] showed that it uses them,” Sargsyan stressed. “But strength is not in the modernity of the weapons and in the [number of] tanks, but in the faith which the Karabakh—and in general, the Armenian—people have; the faith that the homeland must be defended.

“You see how our [Armenian] society manifested itself [during these hostilities]. In Azerbaijan, you will not find [any] information about casualties. The three-day tension showed that the best societies also know to fight well.”

Erdogan Seeks Revenge in Nagorno-Karabakh “Become victim of the crisis between Moscow and Ankara”

April 5, 2016 By administrator

Originally appeared at

Komsomolskay Pravda. Translated by Julia Rakhmetova and Rhod Mackenzie

Over the years the author has been a prominent member of the Russian MSM and is an influential political columnist

A serious escalation of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh risks tuning into a large scale conflict, for the first time since it ended in 1994. Both sides are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States and maintain good relations with Russia, including military and technical. However, Armenia is also a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and Euro-Asian Economic Union (EurAsEC) but Azerbaijan is not. There is a Russian military base in Armenia close to the Turkish border.

Both sides accuse each other of starting the conflict. But there is another consequence to provoking escalation: after Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 over Syria a few months ago, relations between the two countries deteriorated – unexpectedly it seemed. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict became a victim of the crisis in relations between Moscow and Ankara.

Even before the plane was shot down, the latter didn’t appreciate the State Duma passing a law recognizing the genocide of Armenians in 1915 (and Putin’s visit to Yerevan on the hundredth anniversary of this tragedy).

Relations between Armenia and Turkey also deteriorated over this incident. Adopting a “macho style”, Turkey has been violating the Armenian border more frequently, and as if on command, there was a sharp increase in the number of violations on the demarcation line between Azerbaijan and Armenia near Karabakh. Since 2014 there has been a steady increase in the number of incidents. This was “after the Crimea” when the work of the OSCE Minsk Group on Karabakh (which includes Russia and the USA) deteriorated.

Azerbaijan in turn spent huge amounts of money rearming during the year of high oil prices (its military budget is several times larger than Armenia’s) and made clear that it wasn’t going to wait forever for the Minsk group to come up with a solution. If they failed to solve the conflict peacefully, it would use military force. Last fall, high ranking Turkish politicians made a series of sharp statements saying that Turkey would “do its best” to help friendly Azerbaijan liberate its land.

Turkish Prime Minister Davoutoglu made his first such statement two days after shooting down the Russian plane in Syria. The same statements were made during the meeting of Erdogan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, with a lot of pan-Turkish statements from Erdogan. Turkey has many military advisors in the Azerbaijan army, and its policy can be considered as pay-back for Moscow’s actions in Syria, in particular for supporting the Syrian Kurds.

There is another factor strengthening political position of Ilham Aliyev. When he was in Washington at the summit on nuclear security, he met with Vice President Biden, who told him Azerbaijan was strategically important for America, confirming its support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, including Karabakh.

Relations between the two countries is far better than in the 1990’s, when Baku was under American sanctions. Azerbaijan is a member of the Western coalition in Afghanistan, and American investments in Azerbaijan exceed $10 billion.

The US wants the country to become an important player in the “Southern Gas Corridor” to Europe, bypassing Russia. There is already an oil corridor, the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline through Turkey. One would think that America doesn’t need a new large Karabakh war that would ruin plans for any ‘corridors’. The only country that needs a war is Turkey, as it plays its own game in the region without considering its principal ally, NATO.

Still, there are reasons to hope that the high level relationships between Moscow, Baku and Yerevan as well as the experience working with Washington on Syria will at least allow the conflict to be refrozen if not resolved, before it’s too late.

Russia presented Documents on Turkey-ISIS relations presented to the UN

April 2, 2016 By administrator

NEWS DESK – ANF

Russia presented documents on Turkey-ISIS relations to the UN Security Council. The documents shed light on the illegal transfer of arms and ammunitions from Turkey to the parts of Syria under ISIS occupation.

Vitaly Çurkin, Russia’s Permanent Representative at the UN, presented the documents on the illegal transfer of arms and ammunitions from Turkey to the parts of Syria under ISIS occupation. According to these documents, Turkey sent chemicals and explosives worth 2 million US dollars to Syria mainly through Reyhanlı, Azez, Qamişlo and Jarablus.

Below are some of the statements made in the documents presented to the UN Security Council:

“Turkey is the main arms and military technology dealer to ISIS. The Turkish Intelligence uses illegal organizations and orchestrates the smuggling of arms. Cars and humanitarian aid convoys are used for the smuggling.”

“Turkish intelligence agents provided militants from the Damascus Front with RPG-7 rocket propellers and 7,62 mm and 12,7 mm caliber arms in mid-August. The Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms sponsored the delivery of 55 tons of food supplies to ISIS militants on January 25. Beşar Foundation is the main sponsor of these deliveries.”

“As the most effective institution in the delivery of military equipments and arms, Beşar Foundation sent 50 convoys of supplies to Bayırbucak and Kızıltepe Turkmens. Although the foundation lists private individuals as its main donors, it receives funds from the Turkish Intelligence Agency. The foundation opens bank accounts inside and outside Turkey with the help of the government.”

Russia has accused Turkey of using three humanitarian organizations to funnel weapons and supplies to IS

April 1, 2016 By administrator

0,,19159698_303,00 Russia has accused Turkey of using three humanitarian organizations to funnel weapons and supplies to IS and other jihadist groups in Syria. Moscow also called for Turkey close the porous border to extremists.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Friday sent a letter to the UN Security Council saying three Turkish humanitarian organizations were fronts for the country’s intelligence service to send weapons and supplies to extremists in Syria.

“The main supplier of weapons and military equipment to ISIL fighters is Turkey, which is doing so through non-governmental organizations,” Churkin said in a letter dated March 18, referring to the self-declared “Islamic State” (IS) group by another acronym, ISIL.

Churkin accused the Besar Foundation, the Iyilikder Foundation and the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms (IHH) of shipping “various supplies” on behalf of Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency.

Turkey accused of supporting extremists

It is not the first time Russia has accused Turkey of backing extremist groups in Syria, where Moscow is backing the regime against rebels and the IS group. Russia and the Syrian government consider all rebels fighting against the regime to be terrorists.

Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been the main backers of rebels, several of them hard-line Islamist groups, seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As the conflict in Syria has progressed, fighters from some rebels groups have broken off to join with more radical jihadists, including al-Nusra and IS. Adding to the complexity, the Syrian Kurds have accused Turkey of backing extremist groups to thwart their efforts in self-governance and military advances.

Lavrov and Kerry talk

Separately on Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke on the phone about strengthening a ceasefire in Syria and expanding humanitarian operations.

The ceasefire, which does not include al-Nusra and IS, has largely held for several weeks as UN-backed peace negotiations between regime representatives and the opposition continue in Geneva. But the UN said this week that humanitarian supplies were only able to reach 30 percent of those in desperate need.

In the talks, Lavrov called on Turkey to seal the Turkish-Syrian border which he said was “actively used” to send Islamist fighters to Syria via Turkey.

Russia and Syria have voiced concerns that the lull in fighting could be used by rebel backers to bolster various rebel factions with weapons, supplies and fighters.

Russia’s renewed accusations come as two prominent Turkish journalists are on trial for treason over a 2015 story they published with pictures of trucks alleged to have belonged to Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency carrying weapons to Syria.

At the time, in January 2014, the trucks were stopped by gendarmerie. The government first said the shipments were a national secret, then said they were carrying food and medicine.

cw/jm (AFP, AP)

Source: DW.com

German FM Praises Russia for ‘Dealing Most Significant Blow to Daesh’

March 27, 2016 By administrator

The ceasefire in Syria has become ‘the most significant blow’ to the terrorists that would have been impossible without the participation of Russia, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost.

The politician said that he appreciated Russia’s contribution to the Syrian peace process and called for further cooperation between Moscow and the West.

“The ceasefire, access for humanitarian missions, the beginning of peace talks in Geneva — all this would be impossible without the constructive participation of Russia,” Steinmeier said.

According to Steinmeier, the truce has delivered a decisive blow to the Daesh terrorist group. The ceasefire took effect on February 27 and is generally holding across the country despite reported minor violations.

“At least for now, government forces and the opposition do not destroy each other and can concentrate all their efforts on the fight against the Islamic State,” Steinmeier stated.

According to the politician, there are several reasons behind Moscow’s involvement in Syria, among them an attempt to contain the threat of Islamist terrorism and the desire to create a zone of influence in the Middle East. However, the minister stressed, Russia is not interested “in continuous chaos and the total destruction of state structures” in the region.

Russia had been conducting an aerial campaign against terrorists in Syria since September 30 at the official request of the current Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad. In the middle of March, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of the main contingent of Russian forces from Syria, stating that they had accomplished their mission.

Meanwhile on Sunday, the Syrian army confirmed that it had liberated the historic city of Palmyra from Daesh with the support of national aviation and Russian Aerospace Forces.

Palmyra, located 210 kilometers away from Damascus, is considered key for advancing to the Daesh stronghold of Raqqa in eastern Syria.

source: sputniknews.com

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