Despite blocking attempts, Belarus eventually delivers multiple rocket launchers to Azerbaijan

Armenpress 17:20, 11 June, 2018

YEREVAN, JUNE 11, ARMENPRESS. Belarus has eventually supplied Azerbaijan with the Polonez multiple rocket launchers, according to Azerbaijani media.

Back in 2017, Azerbaijani defense minister Zakir Hasanov visited Belarus where he viewed the production of Polonez in Minsk.

In April, Russian Kommersant newspaper reported that Belarus is planning to implement its first export of the systems, and the newspaper mentioned Azerbaijan as a likely client.

On June 11, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev participated in the opening ceremony of the rocket military base of the country’s defense ministry, and official photos of the event show the Belarusian Polonez systems.

Earlier in February, Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that Armenia had blocked its fellow CSTO colleague from selling the Polonez systems to Azerbaijan.

“We wanted to sell Polonez to Azerbaijan. But Armenia, our colleague in the CSTO, opposed this. The deal didn’t take place,” Belarusian military analyst Alexander Alesin had said.

Nevertheless, the official photos of the Azerbaijani defense ministry from today’s event clearly show the Polonez systems in Azerbaijan.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 



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