Epress.am News from Armenia
Yet another US Embassy cable just released by WikiLeaks (cable 09BAKU226) from the embassy in Baku reveals a conversation between US Ambassador Anne Derse and Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Safar Abiyev in which the latter expresses his concern over Russian arms sales to Armenia.
“Abiyev told the Ambassador about his late-January trip to Moscow to discuss Azerbaijan’s allegations that Russia had made extensive weapons transfers to Armenia throughout 2008.
“In formal meetings, Abiyev said, his Russian counterpart stuck to the talking points and denied any involvement. However, ‘after the second bottle of vodka,’ that evening, he said, the Russians opened up and admitted to having transferred weapons to Armenia.
“In an interesting side note, Abiyev quoted [Russian Minister of Defense Anatoly] Serdyukov as saying: ‘Do you follow the orders of your President?…Well, I follow the orders of two Presidents’.”