For 4 years, belarus secretly armed Azerbaijan, prompting Pashinyan to announce withdrawal from CSTO - Politico
Kyiv • UNN
belarus secretly supplied modern military equipment to Azerbaijan in the period from 2018 to 2022, which gave Azerbaijan an advantage in the wars against Armenia, despite the fact that both belarus and Armenia are allies in the CSTO defense pact.
belarus supplied weapons to Azerbaijan, which it used against Armenia, although both belarus and Armenia were allies in the CSTO, an international defense pact led by russia. As UNN reports, Politico writes, citing data obtained through leaked files.
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The files say that belarus supplied modern military equipment to Azerbaijan between 2018 and 2022. This gave Azerbaijan an advantage in a series of wars with its longtime rival, Armenia.
At the same time, both belarus and Armenia are members of the CSTO and are obliged to defend each other in case of attack. Azerbaijan is not a member of this alliance.
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Politico writes that it received more than a dozen letters, diplomatic notes, invoices, and export passports. The documents show that belarus actively assisted the Azerbaijani armed forces between 2018 and 2022, when tensions with Armenia reached a peak. The services offered included the modernization of old artillery equipment and the provision of new equipment used for electronic warfare and unmanned systems.
The documents include letters from the belarusian state Arms Export Agency to its own military-industrial firms regarding orders for modern artillery targeting equipment for Azerbaijan, as well as correspondence between the two states on the purchase of mobile anti-drone stations "Groza-S" for the Azerbaijani armed forces.
One of the diplomatic messages, which the publication has seen, also states that belarusian enterprises play an active role "in the restoration of the de-occupied territories of Azerbaijan," which demonstrates the cooperation between Azerbaijan and belarus in Nagorno-Karabakh.
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The files obtained by the publication explain Armenia's decision to announce its withdrawal from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) military alliance, which was established in 2002 and is led by russia.
On Wednesday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announcedthat his government will begin the process of withdrawal from the CSTO, saying that its members "do not fulfill their treaty obligations, but plan a war against us and Azerbaijan.
belarus summoned Armenia's ambassador to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday after Pashinyan made his accusations public the day before. The ambassador was later recalled to Yerevan and the belarusian ambassador returned to minsk as part of the severance of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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