The approval by Russian President Vladimir Putin of the agreement on creating a combined Russian-Armenian army group is a very dangerous tendency that is going to pose a threat to the South Caucasus, political analyst Gabil Huseynli told APA.

He noted that Russia equips Armenia with arms for free and has recently sent to this country mid-range Iskander M ballistic missiles, TOS heavy flamethrowers, and other weapons.

“Armenia’s air defense system is completely subject to Russia and is planned by Russian experts,” Huseynli said, adding. “Russia had been protecting Armenia’s borders. Many of Armenia’s factories have also become subject to Russia because of debt.”

According to the political analyst, Armenia is gradually losing its sovereignty.

“Now the idea of creating a combined Russian-Armenian army group has come up. Allegedly, the command of this combined army group will be given to Armenia but Russia will take the lead in case of war. In short, the situation is very critical. Russia is creating conditions that threaten the South Caucasus. This threat is aimed at both Georgia and Azerbaijan,” he added.

The politician noted that as an OSCE Minsk Group country that deals with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russia is reluctant to help change the status quo.

“Despite the promises made to Azerbaijan after the 2-5 April events, there has been silence so far,” said Huseynli. “Now the risk of military escalation is gradually increasing in the region due to the direct participation of Russia. This is a very dangerous tendency. They claim that these troops won’t enter Nagorno-Karabakh. However, it’s clear that soldiers of the Armenian army are serving in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Elkhan Sahinoglu, director of the Atlas Research Center, told APA that it was Russia which caused the April battles between Azerbaijan and Armenia not to last more than four days, and Moscow called on both sides to respect the ceasefire again.

“However, the Azerbaijani army had opportunity to move forward. It led to such an impression among ruling circles and one part of society that Kremlin will speed up the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as Russia concerns about the prospect of expansion of military confrontation. As a first step, Kremlin will put pressure on the Armenian authorities so that Yerevan should liberate a few districts adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh. These forecasts were not justified. On the contrary, the Russian government, with its two steps, clearly supported the latter in the confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Firstly, Russia sent Iskander missiles to Armenia that Azerbaijan won’t defeat Armenia in military balance. Secondly, Russia built joint armed forces with Armenia. It means that the Armenian army would be controlled by Russian Defense Ministry from now on. These two steps are against Azerbaijan. Russia proves with these steps that it is not interested in fair solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ensuring Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,” he added.
Shahinoglu stressed that the Azerbaijani government doesn’t want to have problems in relations with Russia.

“It doesn’t mean that we should turn blind eyes to Russia’s increasing military support to Armenia. Of course, the signing by President Putin on creating a combined Russian-Armenian army group triggers concern. This casts a shadow on the impartiality of Russia as the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Russian military support to Armenia must make us to review balanced foreign policy. The misbalance can be eliminated through highest military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey,” he added.

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