YEREVAN. – Disregarding Azerbaijan’s attempts to start an arms race in the region is the biggest crime, military analyst Arkadi Grigoryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.     

Grigoryan commented on the Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade (CAWAT) data, according to which Azerbaijan is ranked 15th in the world in the importing of weapons and military equipment.

In line with the CAWAT analysis, official Baku has spent $1,257,000,000 in 2013, to import weapons and military equipment. 

“I believe Azerbaijan is being ‘modest’ and, in fact, it is in the top ten. And in line with the type of weaponry, it is in first place [in the world].

“An arms race initiative, in such a volatile region like the South Caucasus, is a crime,” the analyst stressed. 

At the same time, Grigoryan pointed to the paradox of the Azerbaijani army. In his words, if the armies of the world are modernizing with more modern weapons, but, parallel to it, the armies are reducing, the opposite is observed in Azerbaijan. Hence the growth in the military budget.  

“The weapons are increasing, but the combat-readiness [of the Azerbaijani army] is not increasing,” Arkadi Grigoryan added.