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AZERBAIJAN TO CONTINUE MILITARY REARMAMENT, SPARKING CONCERNS OF POSSIBLE WAR WITH ARMENIA
BYLINE: Lilit Gevorgyan
Global Insight
October 13, 2010
On 13 October, Azeri Finance Minister Samir Sharifov stated yesterday
that his government is planning to increase its defence budget by
50% to US$3.2 billion compared to US$2 billion in 2010. Meanwhile,
defence spending will account for 19.7% of the total budget compared
to 10.7% in 2010. Some US$1.4 billion will be used to modernise the
Azerbaijani army's arsenal. The finance minister also indicated that
there are plans to invest in the development of the country's military
industry, but he did not reveal any other details.
Significance:Azerbaijan continues its military build-up, as President
Ilham Aliyev has been boosting the defence budget in recent years.
Under the 2011 defence budget, the Azerbaijani military will receive
100% more financial resources than in the 2008 budget. In July
2010 the Russian media reported that Russia's state arms exporter,
Rosoboronexport, signed a US$300-million agreement in 2009 with the
Azerbaijani Defence Ministry on the supply of two S-300PMU-2 Favorit
(SA-20b Gargoyle b) battalions. It is the most expensive single
purchase of weapons by a former Soviet country, apart from Russia.
Azerbaijan's rearmament is also accompanied by growing threats to pull
out from internationally mediated peace talks over the deadlocked
conflict in Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian
government has taken steps to alert the international community
about the dangers of the Azerbaijani leader's open pledges to solve
the conflict through war. Thus during his speech to the UN General
Assembly on 25 September Armenian foreign minister Eduard Nalbandyan
warned that Azerbaijan is using its oil wealth to fuel a "military
adventure" in the conflict, adding that the Azerbaijani government's
"unabated war rhetoric, increased violations of the ceasefire regime,
and the unprecedented increase of the military budget by Azerbaijan
only exacerbate the situation". The situation is reminiscent of the
Georgian government's sharp increase of military spending before the
ill-fated August 2008 military campaign against South Ossetia.
From: A. Papazian
BYLINE: Lilit Gevorgyan
Global Insight
October 13, 2010
On 13 October, Azeri Finance Minister Samir Sharifov stated yesterday
that his government is planning to increase its defence budget by
50% to US$3.2 billion compared to US$2 billion in 2010. Meanwhile,
defence spending will account for 19.7% of the total budget compared
to 10.7% in 2010. Some US$1.4 billion will be used to modernise the
Azerbaijani army's arsenal. The finance minister also indicated that
there are plans to invest in the development of the country's military
industry, but he did not reveal any other details.
Significance:Azerbaijan continues its military build-up, as President
Ilham Aliyev has been boosting the defence budget in recent years.
Under the 2011 defence budget, the Azerbaijani military will receive
100% more financial resources than in the 2008 budget. In July
2010 the Russian media reported that Russia's state arms exporter,
Rosoboronexport, signed a US$300-million agreement in 2009 with the
Azerbaijani Defence Ministry on the supply of two S-300PMU-2 Favorit
(SA-20b Gargoyle b) battalions. It is the most expensive single
purchase of weapons by a former Soviet country, apart from Russia.
Azerbaijan's rearmament is also accompanied by growing threats to pull
out from internationally mediated peace talks over the deadlocked
conflict in Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian
government has taken steps to alert the international community
about the dangers of the Azerbaijani leader's open pledges to solve
the conflict through war. Thus during his speech to the UN General
Assembly on 25 September Armenian foreign minister Eduard Nalbandyan
warned that Azerbaijan is using its oil wealth to fuel a "military
adventure" in the conflict, adding that the Azerbaijani government's
"unabated war rhetoric, increased violations of the ceasefire regime,
and the unprecedented increase of the military budget by Azerbaijan
only exacerbate the situation". The situation is reminiscent of the
Georgian government's sharp increase of military spending before the
ill-fated August 2008 military campaign against South Ossetia.
From: A. Papazian