Armenian authorities accuse ally of failure to get weapons while opposition blames PM

The journalists of the Armenian service of Radio Liberty have wondered why the allied countries do not provide Armenia with previously purchased weapons mentioned by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan earlier.

Pro-government MP, member of the parliamentary standing committee on defence and security Armen Khachatryan voiced two reasons, namely, Azerbaijan, which is doing its best to prevent the sale of weapons to Armenia, recent geopolitical processes, and the Russian-Ukrainian war, according to Caliber.Az.

“Unfortunately, the supply of these weapons is being delayed, which we cannot tolerate today. There are also the allied countries delaying the process. The reasons for the delay can be different. Of course, Azerbaijan will do its best to prevent Armenia from acquiring weapons,” he said.

While taking into account the circumstances that we have a number of realities due to the geopolitical situation today, there is a lack of weapons due to hostilities in different areas. People are trying to use these weapons themselves instead of fulfilling treaty obligations and supplying weapons, Khachatryan noted.

“No reason can be valid, because weapons are a matter of national security, a matter of preserving statehood, and those who do not fulfill their obligations by not supplying weapons are well aware of the consequences for Armenia if they do not supply weapons,” he said.

Is it Armenia’s omission that Azerbaijan can influence its allies to prevent the fulfillment of their contractual obligations? the journalists asked Khachataryan.

Khachataryan said that it is necessary to be realistic, today the allies are guided by their geopolitical interests.

“Our allies also have serious interests and ties with Azerbaijan and Türkiye, and the question is which interests are preferable and more important. Of course, this does not mean that we should sit and wait for what Azerbaijan will do next,” the MP said.

“We are already promoting other interests with other countries. We are also trying to promote our interests in a different way and acquire these weapons. However, the biggest and saddest fact is that the allied countries impede Armenia to acquire weapons,” he noted.

The MP said that the allies do not fulfill their obligations to supply weapons to Armenia and the opposition members blame Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Why did three ex-Armenian presidents manage to resolve the issue of importing weapons and even free of charge but Pashinyan failed? Head of the opposition parliamentary faction “I have the Honour”, member of the Armenian Republican Party, headed by ex-Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan, Hayk Mamijanyan said.

The opposition MP noted that the reason is not the Russian-Ukrainian war as Pashinyan was elected prime minister long before this war.

“During the presidency of Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia was provided free of charge with 50,000 tons of weapons. That is, how did three ex-Armenian leaders manage to bring weapons to Armenia, but Pashinyan failed? I think that the problem is with Pashinyan anyway,” Mamijanyan said.

“Russia has been involved in the direct phase of the Ukrainian crisis since February 2022. Unfortunately, Pashinyan has been in power in Armenia since May 2018. There was plenty of time between these events,” he said while commenting on the fact that Russia is involved in hostilities.