Supplies of Russian credit weapons to Armenia won’t change the balance of forces on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces. Azerbaijan still has a military advantage, political analyst, Candidate of Historical Sciences Oleg Kuznetsov said in an interview with a ‘Vestnik Kavkaza’ correspondent.
Above all, he pointed out that Russian weapons only compensates losses of the Armenian army during the April war for Karabakh. "I do not think that these weapons will significantly change the balance of forces on the front line because they are of defensive nature and they may just compensate the Armenian equipment that was destroyed in early April . In addition, they will replace worn out and exhausted the Armenian weapon. It's no secret that 40-45% of Armenian military equipment is a dilapidated metal,’’ expert recalled.
Oleg Kuznetsov also said that Russia will not allow to bring these weapons to the occupied Azerbaijani territories. "We must understand that many of these weapons that will be delivered from Russia cannot be simply transferred to the so-called ‘‘NKR Defense Army’’ At best, they will cover the long rear to form the third tier of defense, but not to be used on the front line,’’ he stressed.
According to the expert, the only benefit that Yerevan will be able to 'extract' from these deliveries is the impact on the internal political situation in Armenia. "Purchase of the new weapons could somehow affect the morale of the Armenian troops in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. In this case, Yerevan is able to try to venture any large-scale provocation, or create a few days of the war the situation in order to see in practice when Azerbaijani army will move to the offensive in response to a large-scale provocation by Armenian military units," Oleg Kuznetsov said.
In general, Azerbaijan's advantage at the front will continue. It is not only due purchase of arms. "Firstly, the number of Azerbaijani army. Secondly, mainly Azerbaijani troops have weapons of 4th generation, while the armed Armenian forces are equipment with weapon of 2nd and 3rd generations,’’the expert said.
