Dimidyuk said
that Armenian authorities as well as military officials
from Kazakhstan held "interesting negotiations"
with Rosoboronexport representatives in the Belarusian
capital. "These were not mere courtesy visits, we
discussed concrete issues," he said.
"We have
not cooperated so closely with members states of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) before," Dimidyuk
said.
The Armenian
Defense Ministry declined to confirm or deny this information.
"Armenia's armed forces are constantly supplied with
new and modern weaponry," ministry spokesman Davit
Karapetian told RFE/RL's Armenian Service. "It is
not expedient to divulge details of our arms purchases."
A
Defense Ministry source, who asked not to be identified,
said in that context that the Armenian army already possesses
Smerch systems.
A possible purchase of Smerch
rockets would highlight Armenia's intensifying arms race
with Azerbaijan, whose armed forces reportedly have at
least 12 such systems.
Defense Minister
Seyran Ohanian said in February that the Armenian military
received "unprecedented" quantities of modern
weapons last year and will continue its military build-up
in 2011. Ohanian gave no details of those deliveries.
Yerevan
officially confirmed in late December that it possesses
Russian S-300
surface-to-air missiles, which are widely
regarded as one of the most potent antiaircraft weapons.
Earlier in
December, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and his National
Security Council approved a five-year plan to modernize
the armed forces. It envisages, among other things, the
acquisition of long-range, precision-guided weapons.
