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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army
Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army
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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Yernek khakhakh antsni erants tsarayutyunn.
Originally posted by burjuin View Post
Hayastan or Bust.Comment
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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army
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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Armenian Army
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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 | Posted by Contributor
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Baku Says Russian Arms Trade at $4 Billion
BAKU (Combined Sources)—Azerbaijan said its arms trade with Russia is worth $4 billion as it boosted military spending in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, reported Bloomberg.
“As of today, military and technical cooperation with Russia is measured at $4 billion and it tends to grow further,” Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said Tuesday after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Baku. It was the first time Azerbaijan disclosed the price of its arms deals.
Azerbaijan has increased military spending by almost 30 times to $3.7 billion in the past decade and repeatedly threatened to use force to regain control of Karabakh if peace talks fail.
At a press conference following their meeting, Putin said only a diplomatic solution would be acceptable for the Karabakh conflict.
“There is only a political solution to Karabakh conflict,” the RIA Novosti agency quoted Putin as saying.
“During the negotiations we touched upon international issues, including the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Russia is providing active assistance to the settlement, which is possible only by political means,” added Putin.
He also stressed the need for a resolution of the existing problems in the Caspian region related to delimitation, ecological issues, for the benefit of all countries of the region.
But, Putin failed to clinch a concrete energy deal on his rare trip to Azerbaijan on Tuesday, dashing Moscow’s hopes to challenge the dominance of major Western energy companies in the former Soviet republic, reported Reuters.
Putin’s trips abroad usually yield a flurry of deals and one of his closest allies, state oil champion Rosneft’s head Igor Sechin, went to Baku last month to prepare the ground.
Russia has long tried to increase its presence in Azerbaijan, a country Europe is hoping will help it lessen its dependence on Russian gas after Moscow’s “gas wars” with Ukraine disrupted deliveries in 2006 and 2009.
But on Tuesday, Sechin signed only a vague cooperation agreement with Azeri state energy firm Socar as Putin landed in Baku for the first time in seven years.
“Under this agreement, we plan to cooperate on a number of issues including crude swap operations, a joint use of infrastructure,” Sechin told reporters without giving details.
Sources on both sides said a lot of differences needed to be removed for the companies to agree on teaming up on field development or swapping energy supplies.
“Azerbaijan is asking such a high price for its assets that Rosneft is not willing to offer,” a Russian energy source said, asking not to be named. A Socar source also said a lot of work needed to be done to iron out the differences.
Western oil companies such as BP, Statoil and Exxon Mobil have dominated the Azeri oil industry since the collapse of the Soviet Union while relations between Moscow and Baku have been mostly cool.
Ties between Moscow and Baku were strained late last year after protracted talks between the two countries failed to reach a deal over Moscow’s use of a radar station on Azeri territory.
The only Russian company with a significant presence in Azerbaijan is the privately-held Lukoil.
Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom agreed in the last decade to buy almost the entire gas output from Azerbaijan, in what was seen as a successful attempt by Russia to defend its leading position in Europe’s gas markets.
But the deal never materialized in full, and Azerbaijan and major oil companies have instead agreed to supply most of their gas through a new pipeline to Europe from 2019.
The project does not represent a major challenge to Russia’s gas dominance in Europe, although Moscow has always been keen to make sure Azerbaijan does not become a major transit route for gas from other Caspian Sea producers.
The threat has somewhat diminished since major producer Turkmenistan rerouted most of its gas to China away from Russia and the European markets.
Azerbaijan has almost a trillion cubic meters in gas reserves, according to BP data, relatively small compared to Russia’s 33 trillion cubic meters.
Last month, industry sources told Reuters Rosneft was seeking a stake in Azerbaijan’s Absheron gas project but this was not mentioned in the cooperation agreement.
SOCAR and French oil company Total each hold 40 percent in Absheron with the remainder being held by GDF Suez. Azeri officials have said Absheron will help increase Azeri gas exports in coming years.
Sources have also said Rosneft and Socar were also considering swapping Azeri oil in Europe against Russian supplies to Asia which would allow Rosneft to service its plants in Italy and Germany while Socar would supply its Asian buyers.
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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Defence Minister S. Ohanyan visited the 2nd Army Corps
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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Armenia participates in tank biathlon in Russia
August 14, 2013 - 14:32 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian army tank crews took their places on the starting blocks at a firing range outside Moscow Wednesday, Aug 14, at the start of the world’s first ever tank biathlon, RIA Novosti reported.
The first day of the four-day competition saw the tankers, comprising the best crews from Russia’s four military districts, compete in a relay race across 18,300 meters (11.6 miles) of rough terrain, the Defense Ministry said.
The tanks have to cross various obstacles while firing their main guns and machine guns at targets at distances between 900 and 2,200 meters, incurring 500-meter-long penalty laps for misses.
Russia’s best tank crew will be selected over the next two days of the competition, and will then take on rival tankers from Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in the finals on Saturday, the ministry said. All the races will be held in T-72B tanks, one of the mainstays of the former Soviet Union’s army. The tanks are painted in unusual bright colors for the convenience of viewers, including red – Russia’s color for the finals – yellow, blue and salad green.
Next year, American, German and Italian teams are also expected to compete, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who is personally credited with inventing the exotic motorsport.
The minister said military attaches from 46 countries were invited to watch the event this week, implying a possible increase in participants in 2014.
The event is being held to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Prokhorovka this week, Shoigu’s deputy, General Arkady Bakhin, said Wednesday. Armored forces from the Red Army and the Wehrmacht clashed near the village of Prokhorovka in southern Russia during the Battle of Kursk in 1943, in what remains one of the biggest tank battles in history.
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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Would love to see that tank contest. Sounds like a great idea. Would be nice to see them use the newer tanks to.Hayastan or Bust.Comment
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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Serzh Sargsyan receives Alexander Fomin
RA President Serzh Sargsyan received today the RF Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Alexander Fomin.
As the press service of the president reports, at the meeting, the parties noted with satisfaction the high level of cooperation in all areas between the two strategic partners and spoke about the programs aimed at the further strengthening and deepening of the military and technical cooperation between Armenian and Russia. Serzh Sargsyan and Alexander Fomin discussed a wide range of issues related to the expansion of cooperation between the RA and RF in the defense area.Comment
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Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan
Top Russian Defense Official Again Visits Armenia
The head of a Russian government agency overseeing arms deals with foreign states visited Yerevan on Wednesday less than two months after signing a Russian-Armenian agreement on joint weapons production and repair.
Aleksandr Fomin, who runs Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, held separate meetings with President Serzh Sarkisian and Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian.
Sarkisian’s press office said the Armenian leader discussed with Fomin “a wide range of issues pertaining to the further development of defense cooperation” between Armenia and Russia. It said they looked into relevant programs planned by the two “strategic allies.” No further details were reported.
A separate statement by the Armenian Defense Ministry said Ohanian and Fomin reached “understandings” on setting up joint “certified centers for the repair and maintenance of military hardware and weapons” in Armenia. It did not elaborate.
The creation of such centers is envisaged by a Russian-Armenian agreement on “the development of military-technical cooperation” that was signed by Ohanian and Fomin in Yerevan on June 25. Nikolay Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, sought to underline the importance of the agreement with his presence at the signing ceremony.
Ohanian described the document as “very important” later in June. He said it will help Armenia maintain military parity with Azerbaijan in the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The minister spoke just days after it emerged that Russia is to sell $1 billion worth of offensive weapons to Baku.
Russian President Vladimir Putin formally authorized his government to sign the new defense accord with Armenia in January. The Russian government daily “Rossiiskaya Gazeta” reported shortly afterwards that the planned Russian-Armenian military facilities will cater for tanks, armored personnel carriers, air-defense systems and even helicopter gunships. Another Russian paper, “Nezavisimaya Gazeta,” said Moscow will also help the Armenians “launch the production of some types of ammunition and armored vehicles.”
Azerbaboon: 9.000 Google hits and counting!Comment
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