Armenian media: Russian weapons - scrap metal

"Armenian Defence Minister Suren Papikyan's Moscow visit began with a trip to the exhibition of the military-industrial complex Army 2022. Suren Papikyan got acquainted with the latest models, met with the heads of military-industrial enterprises, and discussed a number of issues related to military cooperation."

The Armenian edition of Lragir writes about this in an article under the eloquent heading "For scrap metal", Caliber.Az reports.

"I remember that during the visit of the former minister to Moscow, information appeared that [Russian Defence Minister Sergei] Shoigu announced the supply of modern weapons to Armenia. Then [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev said that the Russian side assured him that there would be no supplies, and Moscow did not refute this information.

During the Karabakh war, the quality of Russian conventional weapons was clearly demonstrated when a small number of non-Russian weapons provided Baku with significant superiority. The air defence "fan" shutdowns should be added to this (which, according to the agreement, is Russian-Armenian).

But in all its 'brilliance' Russian weapons showed themselves in Ukraine, especially after the Ukrainian army received heavy equipment of Western NATO standards. Despite the incomparably small numbers, thanks to this armament, the Ukrainian army managed to level the situation on the battlefield and deliver precise pinpoint strikes on the headquarters, command posts of the Russian army and critical infrastructures, which minimises the possibility of large-scale offensives of the Russian army, disrupts supply chains and coordination links. So far, the Russian army has managed to hold its positions thanks to manpower, the number of weapons and nuclear blackmail, thereby trying to prevent massive supplies of Western weapons to Ukraine.

In turn, due to the sanctions, the Russian military-industrial complex has faced serious problems, since Western components and electronics are used in more or less high-tech samples, which Russia is not able to produce independently. Moscow is trying to get these components through 'grey schemes' with the help of Türkiye, and China, and also trying to 'adapt' the chips used in refrigerators, washing machines and other household appliances.

Statements about the intention to 'modernise the Armenian army through Russian channels' sound like nonsense in themselves, especially at a time when the quality of wars in the world is changing. The Ukrainian war has shown that Russian weapons very quickly turn into scrap metal after the strikes of technological Western weapons. And in the case of Armenia, the political component of the use of these weapons should be added to this," the Yerevan edition writes.