The scandal over the dismissed application of Russian weaponry manufacturer ORSIS for participating in Armenia's arms tender is exclusively Armenia's problem, since in case of a break in military-technical cooperation, Russia easily compensates for the losses on the Armenian arms market by the Azerbaijani market, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Journalistic Truth', Vladislav Shurigin said, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza.
Today, it was reported about Russia's letter to the Armenian Defense Ministry over a disruption of an arms tender, demanding to settle the situation. The tender launched by Armenia in May was won by Russian weaponry manufacturer ORSIS. But later the tendering process was cancelled without giving any reasons, while the company was included in the list of unfair contractors.
First of all, the military expert emphasized that Russia will not stop cooperation first "Continuing cooperation is necessary anyway. The fact that Yerevan closed the tender is their internal problem. We drew attention to this, respectively, for the Armenian side it is a cause to conduct an investigation," the editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Journalistic Truth' said.
Vladislav Shurigin suggested that the scandal was caused by a corruption scheme in the Armenian military. "Rather, it is a corruption problem, when someone from the Armenian Ministry of Defense took a bribe in order to disrupt this order and, apparently, push it in favor of the other side. So we are waiting for the other side to come up," Vladislav Shurygin said.
The expert recalled Armenia's main benefit of the military-technical cooperation with Russia. "First of all, it is the fact that the political pressure on buyers is excluded. Russia, as an arms supplier, never puts forward any political interests. If an agreement was concluded, it will certainly be implemented," Vladislav Shurygin recalled.
At the same time, the final say whether to buy or not to buy Russian weapons rests with Armenia, Russia will not hold on to the Armenian market. "It's hard to tell what losses Armenia will suffer, but I can say that we will not even notice the loss of the Armenian arms market, moreover, we can easily compensate for it with the Azerbaijani market," the editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Journalistic Truth' concluded.
