YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan has no adequate response to the Iskander systems supplied to Armenia, Deputy Director of the Russian Institute of CIS Countries Vladimir Yevseyev at a meeting of the Lazarev Club in Yerevan.

According to him, the Polonez system cannot be considered as such, but he is sure that Azerbaijan will try to find an adequate response.

Yevseyev believes that Azerbaijan has quantitative superiority in armored troops and artillery. However, not only quantity, but quality is important, and this was demonstrated during the response to the aggression of Azerbaijan in April 2016.

 “This [supplies of Iskander] allowed us raise the question of the possibility of a retaliatory strike against Baku, which is a serious deterrent. There were other arms supplies,” the analyst added.

He believes that if Azerbaijan manages to achieve superiority, it will push Baku to the attempts of finding a military solution to the conflict.

In this context, he stressed the importance of Armenian-Russian cooperation. He reminded of the provocations on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border from Nakhchivan, the seizure of the buffer zone, which made it possible to bring the Azerbaijani positions so close that there is a serious threat of strike from this side. Turkey is making efforts to intensify its military presence, including through the rapid deployment of troops.

“It is believed that the communication line has reduced tensions. I think this is not true. If they talked about the withdrawal of snipers in 2014, now we need to talk about the withdrawal of heavy equipment. Only close cooperation with Russia keeps Azerbaijan and Turkey from conducting a large-scale operation,” he concluded.