The Russian Defense Ministry has neither passed nor sold arms and military equipment to Armenia in 2008 in the amount and variety published by several media outlets, a note for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry says. It has been submitted to the Counselor of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia Bakhish Zeynalov today, Russian Foreign Ministry reported.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry demanded further explanation for the alleged donation of Russian weapons worth 800 million dollars to Armenia from the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri.
The Russian Foreign Ministry's note says that the reports are strong anti-Russian misinformation and are not conducive to the positive development of friendly Russia-Azerbaijan relations.
Russia believes that the issue has been exhausted and is confident that, if any concerns occur, the two countries will not make hasty conclusions and actions, but will work together to settle the possible doubts to advance the close relations and strategic partnership.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
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