Russia Continues to Supply Armenia, Azerbaijan with Weapons

The volume of Azerbaijan’s imports of major conventional weapons increased by 164% between 2002–2006 and 2007–2011, making it the 38th largest recipient of weapons, according to new data on international arms transfers published on Mar. 19 by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

According to the report, “Although Armenia dropped from being the 71st largest recipient to 84th place between 2007–2011 and 2002–2006, the Armenian Government has declared that it will procure arms in response to Azerbaijan’s arms acquisitions.”

Russia is the main supplier of arms to both states: in 2007–2011 it provided 55% of Azerbaijan’s arms imports and a whopping 96% of Armenia’s arms imports, SIPRI reports.

Worldwide, the five biggest suppliers of major conventional weapons in this period were the United States, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The US and Russia remained by far the largest exporters, accounting for 30 per cent and 24 per cent of all exports, respectively.