Azerbaijan buys medium-range missiles

The range of fire medium-range missiles is about 3000 km.

 

Azerbaijan has gained the medium range ballistic missiles EXTRA of Israeli production (130 km) and long-range missiles (2,000 km) made in Pakistan.

 It has to be noted that in order not to disturb the balance of power, Russia does not sell long-range ballistic missiles to Armenia and Azerbaijan. At the same time, Russia has installed operational-tactical missile complexes "Iskander" with nuclear warheads on a military base in Armenia near the Turkish border.

The ballistic missiles with a range 1000-5500 km can be fitted with a nuclear warhead.

The missiles of Israel Military Industries (IMI) have the caliber of 306 mm, a length of 3.97 m, a launch weight of 450 kg and a 125 kg weight of warhead.

Pakistani missile "Shaheen-1" is capable of hitting targets at a distance of 750 km, "Hatf-4" is an improved version of the "Shaheen-1" missile with a longer range. The exact range of "Shaheen-1A" advanced missile called the "Hatf-4" is not officialy reported, although the range of fire medium-range missiles is about 3000 km.

Armenia hosts drill as tension continues

Yerevan is welcoming 2,000 soldiers from across the ex-USSR for exercises that look set to add to the region’s already-fraught tension

The Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has launched large-scale military exercises in Armenia amid tension with Azerbaijan over Baku’s pardoning of an extradited Azerbaijani soldier who had hacked an Armenian to death.

Around 2,000 troops from Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are conducting five days of war games between Sept. 15 and 19.

But the exercises are occurring amid tension between Yerevan and Baku over the latter’s pardoning and promotion of Ramil Safarov, as well as Azerbaijan’s rapprochement with Europe following NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s recent praise of the country and President İlham Aliyev’s trip to France tomorrow.

“The military exercises are unprecedented in the history of the Armenian armed forces,” Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian said at the launch of the Interaction-2012 sessions. The aim was to create “a regional force that can neutralize potential threats, he said.

The scenario of the maneuvers stipulates the rapid deployment of a force repelling enemy attacks in the mountains. Aircraft and artillery units will also participate, including jet volley fire systems. Other planned exercises include an airdrop of troops and a would-be operation to destroy a gang of militants hiding in a mountain village.

The six-nation CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance formed in 1992 and comprised of Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Safarov, who had been incarcerated since 2004 in Hungary, where he murdered an Armenian counterpart at a NATO event, was treated as a hero upon his return and made a major. Yerevan reacted furiously to the pardon and strongly condemned Baku, with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan saying “making a hero out of a criminal is unacceptable” and accusing Azerbaijan of endangering the region’s fragile peace.

The exercise also comes amid growing closeness between Azerbaijan and Europe. In a recent visit to Azerbaijan, Rasmussen praised oil-rich Azerbaijan for its closer security cooperation with the alliance.

“Our ties are developing steadily and positively,” Rasmussen said after talks with Aliyev on Sept. 7.

The secretary-general said Azerbaijan was a “valuable partner for NATO,” adding that both sides had “an opportunity to build a solid, long-term partnership.” Rasmussen thanked Azerbaijan for its participation in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan and conveyed the alliance’s appreciation for the country’s additional support given to NATO operations via fly-over rights and transit lines.

Aliyev is heading to France tomorrow. The Nagorno-Karabakh issue will be the main topic of the scheduled meeting with French President François Hollande, according to media reports.

Ankara and Baku also agreed in June to build the $7 billion Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline (TANAP) to carry Azerbaijani gas to European markets in what has been perceived as a crucial deal. The project might help Europe diversify its energy supplies by bypassing Moscow, its largest gas provider.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a long-running conflict over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where they fought a war in the 1990s. Negotiators from Russia, the United States and France have led efforts under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) since then to find a resolution to the conflict, but with few tangible results.

Armenia 'ready for war' after Azerbaijan axe-killer pardon

Protesters burn a Hungarian national flag during a rally outside the Hungarian consulate in Yerevan.

Armenia warned Azerbaijan it was ready for war as tensions soared between the ex-Soviet foes after Baku pardoned and promoted an Azerbaijani officer who axed an Armenian soldier to death.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev last week immediately pardoned Ramil Safarov after he was extradited from Hungary, where he had been serving a life sentence for the 2004 killing.

Safarov was also promoted to the rank of major, given a house and eight years' worth of back-pay after returning home to a hero's welcome, in defiance of assurances from Baku to Budapest that he would serve out his term in Azerbaijan.

"We don't want a war, but if we have to, we will fight and win. We are not afraid of killers, even if they enjoy the protection of the head of state," Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian fumed in a statement late on Sunday.

Safarov hacked Armenian officer Gurgen Margarian to death at a military academy in Budapest where the servicemen were attending English-language courses organised by NATO.

 His lawyers claimed in court that he was traumatised because some of his relatives had been killed during Azerbaijan's war with Armenia, and alleged that Margarian had insulted his country.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a long-running conflict over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, where they fought a war in the 1990s.

Russia, which is part of the OSCE Minsk Group that is mediating in negotiations to find a peaceful solution to the Karabakh conflict, expressed "deep concern" over the extradition and pardon.

"We believe that these actions of the Azerbaijanis, as well as the Hungarian authorities, go against the efforts agreed at an international level primarily through the OSCE Minsk Group aimed at reducing tension in the region," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.

The EU said Baku and Yerevan should refrain from exacerbating the dispute.

"We call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to exercise restraint on the ground and in public statements in order to prevent any kind of escalation of this situation," Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, told a news conference in Brussels.

Yerevan on Friday cut diplomatic ties with Hungary over the pardon, while US President Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned" about the incident.

Hungary summoned Azerbaijan's ambassador on Sunday to protest at Baku's decision after earlier saying it had been assured Safarov would serve out his term.

"Hungary finds it unacceptable and condemns the pardoning of Ramil Safarov," foreign ministry state secretary Zsolt Nemeth told ambassador Vilayat Guliyev, the national news agency MTI reported.

Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in the war that left some 30,000 people dead.

The two sides have not signed a final peace deal since the 1994 ceasefire and there are still regular firefights along the front line. Analysts warn the frozen conflict risks slipping again into full-scale war.

EU warns Armenia, Azerbaijan against fighting

EU president Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday urged enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan to end frontline clashes that have raised fears of renewed war over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh.

"The European Union calls on both sides strictly to respect the ceasefire and exercise restraint, on the ground and in public statements, in order to prevent a further escalation of the situation," Van Rompuy said in an address to the Armenian parliament.

Ten soldiers were killed last month in clashes along the Karabakh frontline and on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan -- the worst outbreak of violence for several years.

Armenia-backed separatists seized Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a war in the 1990s that left some 30,000 dead, and no final peace deal has been signed since the 1994 ceasefire.

Van Rompuy said that a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict was "the key to unlocking the region's enormous development potential and the prosperity that it can bring".

He urged politicians to resist "the temptations of populist rhetoric and entrenchment" -- an apparent reference to frequent belligerent statements from both sides.

Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the disputed region by force if negotiations do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed massive retaliation against any military action.

 

Armenians kill five Azerbaijani troops in border clash: Baku

Armenian forces killed five Azerbaijani soldiers in a new border clash Tuesday, Baku said, in a new flaring of tensions as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits the volatile Caucasus region.

The Azerbaijani defence ministry said fighting broke out when "a group of Armenian saboteurs made an attempt to penetrate the military positions of the national army" in the country's north-west.

"During the fight, four soldiers of the Azerbaijani armed forces were killed and another died as a result of the Armenians opening fire," the ministry said in a statement.

On Monday, Armenia alleged that Azerbaijani troops had killed three of its soldiers and wounded six more during another deadly battle on the border between the enemy ex-Soviet states, although Baku denied this.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a long-running conflict over the territory of Nagorny Karabakh, where they fought a war in the 1990s that killed some 30,000 people, but this week's clashes erupted away from the disputed region.

Visiting Yerevan on Monday, Clinton said she was concerned by the rising tensions and warned Armenia and Azerbaijan not to settle their conflict by force.

"I am very concerned about the danger of escalation of tensions and the senseless deaths of young soldiers and innocent civilians," she said after Monday's violence.

"The use of force will not resolve the Nagorny Karabakh conflict and therefore force must not be used." The Karabakh war saw Armenia-backed separatists seize the region from Azerbaijan.

Despite years of negotiations since the 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have not yet signed a final peace deal and there are still frequent exchanges of gunfire along the front line.

Azerbaijan has threatened to use force to win back Karabakh if peace talks fail to yield satisfactory results, but Armenia has warned of large-scale retaliation against any military action.

Clinton is due to visit Baku on Wednesday.

Russia to Double Armenia Base Contract Staff

Russia will double the number of contract personnel at its military base in Armenia, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"The number of contract servicemen at the Russian base at Gyumri will be doubled by the end of 2012," Col. Igor Gorbul, a spokesman for Russia's Southern Military District, told reporters in Moscow.

Permanent staff numbers, however, will remain at the current 5,000, Gorbul added.

Russia's parliament voted last year to extend the country's lease of the base through 2044.

The base, near Armenia's border with Turkey, is part of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States air defense system and is home to S-300 anti-aircraft missiles and Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters.