Armenia pursues dual strategy in relation to Russia-Ukraine war, expert says

A true friend is tested in bad times. When the war between Ukraine and Russia started, friends and foes were also revealed between the parties. For example, Ukraine recognized Iran (with 17 Shahid drones) and several countries that provided weapons against it in the middle of the war. Do not be surprised - one of those countries was Armenia. Even at the beginning of the war, several groups of Armenian robbers fought together with the Russians against Ukraine under the military name. A group of them was captured by Ukrainian soldiers and even exposed and severely punished.

In fact, when talking about Armenia, it is nothing new to emphasize these things, but the dangerous side of the issue is the discovery of Armenian-made E-001M mines on Ukrainian soil. The mentioned mines were also widely used against Azerbaijan in the Patriotic War. Also, the recent date of the production of mines confirms that Armenia produces and widely uses mines banned by the UN organization in other conflict regions.

A few days ago, the Ukrainian military discovered an Armenian-made E-001M anti-personnel mine while clearing their territory of mines. This shows that despite the fact that Armenia has repeatedly stated that it is a neutral side in the Russian-Ukrainian war, it suggests completely different thoughts that came to light during mine clearance.

It seems that Armenia was not only involved in the war with Azerbaijan, but also engages in provocations in other countries and illegally supports them.

It should be noted that the Ottawa Convention, which has international legal force since 1999, prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines. Armenia is among the 163 countries that joined the agreement on December 14, 2017. Despite all the facts, Armenia, as usual, is acting against the law.

While commenting on the issue for Azernews, Ukrainian military expert Alexander Okhrimenko also clarified some presumptions about Armenia. He confirmed the probability of supplying some weapons to Russia via Armenia. But despite this, the Armenian side denies this, since direct evidence has not yet been found. But it is clear that Russia uses precisely those mines that are very difficult to find and very difficult to defuse. Let the researchers look into this matter. After all, this is a huge crime committed by Armenia.

"I think, Armenia is illegally planting mines. The trouble is that the sale of weapons is very beneficial for Armenia itself. Unfortunately, this is how many people make money. Not only that, these are some kind of Armenian companies that do not work for the government, but rather work illegally. It was they who framed these weapons," the expert said.

Talking about illegal weapons, A.Okhrimenko noted that the underground arms market was, is and will be. For this reason, there is indeed a possibility that this is an illegal arms market. And here there are the hands of the Armenian participants.

"I think that at the moment it is necessary to demand that an investigation be brought into this case. If during the investigation it turns out that this is the work of the Armenian participants, then the perpetrators will be severely punished. Because it is definitely considered a big crime," the military expert added.

In the conclusion, speaking about the relations between Armenia and Russia, Alexander Okhrimenko noted that Armenia's being allies with Russia is quite obvious. He also explained the reasons behind this unbreakable connection.

"Firstly, Armenia is part of the Russian military bloc, and secondly, the Prime Minister of Armenia met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Officially, Armenia collaborates with Russia when the matter is Ukraine. Even if Armenia takes no action but it is still silent about some issues. In my opinion, these Armenian-Russian relations are considered biased. But Armenia is somehow trying to show and explain to everyone that the country supports Ukraine. But the leadership of Armenia, on the contrary, supports the pro-Russian policy," the expert underlined.