Lavrov says Russia and Armenia have resolved unfulfilled weapons supply issue

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on May 21 that he discussed with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan Russia’s failure to deliver armaments for which Armenia had paid for.

“We discussed that episode today, we have resolved that matter,” he said when asked by a reporter why Moscow did not supply the weapons to Armenia despite receiving payment. 

“The payments have been readdressed for other purposes, there’s no dispute here. Regarding the supplies I can say that now Russia has a situation where we are forced to fight against entire Europe. Practically there is a lot of modern weapons reaching Ukraine from European countries, and these weapons require our response. I am sure that our Armenian friends understand us, they know that in such situations we can’t fulfill all our obligations within the timeframes. But even in this situation the systems envisaged under the contracts with Armenian friends are transferred, and we will continue this practice,” Lavrov said.

In response to an observation that especially in such conditions Russia shouldn’t oppose Armenia’s decision to buy Western arms, Lavrov ironically said, “No problem, that’s up to our Armenian friends, if they want to have a French or any other country’s base in exchange of extra supplies, be it, we will not impose anything. It is up to our allies to decide where to buy better weapons from. Even notwithstanding what I just said,” Lavrov said, describing France as an “unfriendly” country for Russia.

FM Lavrov said the Armenian-Russian partnership remains warm despite all problems that emerged in the relationship because of misunderstanding one another.