Russian Arms Supplies to Armenia ‘In Progress’

Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian inspects Armenian troops stationed along the border with Azerbaijan on August 9, 2016. (Photo: Photolur)

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)””Russia has begun supplying Armenia with new weapons in line with multimillion-dollar defense contracts signed by the two allied states, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian said on Tuesday.

The Armenian government is to pay for them with a $200 million loan that was allocated by Moscow a year ago.

The government moved to speed up the deal’s implementation following four-day hostilities around Nagorno-Karabakh that broke out in early April. It instructed the Armenian Defense Ministry to promptly negotiate supply contracts with relevant Russian government agencies.

“Almost all of the contracts have been signed and interstate procedures [for their implementation] completed,”