Armenian Defence Ministry calls on media not to cite foreign reports of weapons deliveries
26 November 2024The Armenian Defense Ministry has called on Armenian journalists to clarify with them before citing foreign press reports of weapons deals or deliveries involving Armenia.
It came after news broke that the first deliveries of an Indian missile system had been dispatched to Armenia.
On Sunday, citing defence sources, Indian media reported that the country had started the supply of the Pinaka multiple launch rocket systems to Armenia. The story was picked up by local media in Armenia.
On the same day, the Armenian Defense Ministry urged journalists to make clarifications with the ministry before publishing news on Armenian arms deals in foreign media, stating that foreign media outlets ‘continue to publish several reports that do not correspond to reality’.
However, the Ministry’s spokesperson declined to comment on the information about the supply of the Pinaka, telling journalists to rely ‘exclusively’ on official reports from the Defence Ministry as well as the ‘statements of authorised officials.’
According to Asian News International (ANI), an Indian news agency, the Pinaka system can strike targets at a range of over 80 kilometres, and their supply to Armenia began ‘around the same time India has started deliveries of the Akash air defence missile system.’
On 12 November it was reported that India shipped the first Akash weapon system battery to Armenia. Reportedly both deals were made in 2022.
In September, Indian media quoted ‘top officials’ as saying that Armenia had sought India’s help to upgrade its small fleet of Russian-built Su-30SM fighter aircraft.
ANI also reported that Armenia was one of the three largest buyers of Indian weapons and equipment along with the US and France.
‘Advanced stages of negotiations’
Prior to the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenia relied almost exclusively on its traditional ally, Russia, for arms and military equipment. It has since been distancing itself from Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, diversifying its military and diplomatic relations.
On Monday, Greek media reported that the country was in ‘advanced stages of negotiations’ with Armenia for the sale of several Russian-built surface to air missile systems — the S-300, TOR M-1, and OSA-AK — as Greece ‘proceeds with the de-Russification of the Greek arsenal’.
According to Greek news site Enikos, Athens plans to replace them with newer equipment of Israeli origin. They said that Armenia had both experience in using the systems and the required spare parts, which was the ‘biggest problem for the Greek Armed Forces’, especially after the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions on Russia.
They said the sale came as part of ‘cooperation with France, which will also contribute with weapons’ to arm Greece.
Yerevan has continued to be critical of Moscow’s failure to fulfil weapon deals with the country since the invasion of Ukraine, having purchased military supplies from Russia in 2021 but only received the first batch of the agreed-upon supplies in January 2024.
Yerevan also noted that the acquisition of weapons from Russia had decreased from 96% as of 2020 to 10% as of 2021, calling it ‘the choice of Russia, which decided not to supply those weapons whose supply contracts were signed’.