Two years passed since the April War. The army of yesterday differs significantly from what we have today. Huge leaps forward have been done, mostly thanks to the efforts of our children who fought in that war, not to mention that their efforts helped to retain the sovereignty and security of the country overall.
Back in the days of the April War, defending our borders, soldiers mostly could rely on their eyes and ears only. Today, the state border units possess modern equipment. Some say that it has been possible to equip the border units with the newest armament well before the war, but the negligence and the thirst for wealth of the responsible officials prevented it. And they didn’t even care about the poor technical readiness of the Armenian soldiers.
In the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, a number of high-ranked officials have been removed from their positions over the last two years. Some of them have been put on trial while others have been appointed to some distant positions in the useless Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The more stars on the epaulettes an official had, the more distant was his place of “exile.”
In terms of the losses from the Armenian side, the armament and equipment supplied to Azerbaijan by Israel have played a significant and maybe even the main role. Armenian units simply didn’t possess any type of anti-weapon against the precise and advanced Israeli weaponry.
Back in the days of the April War, Azerbaijan has also utilized 80% of the armament that Russia had supplied them with. However, this doesn’t prevent certain individuals from the elite of Armenia to deny the superiority of the Azerbaijani arsenal in terms of both quality and quantity and that the Azerbaijanis didn’t hesitate to use it. Apart from that, they attempt to justify Russia in every possible way, assuring everyone that even if the Russians are selling weapons to Azerbaijan, they are doing it for the sake of Armenia somehow. Putin has prepared some kind of a button to shut down the Azerbaijani weapons, the elite “argues”.
Now, Russia officially tries to justify themselves by stating that the weapons supplied to Azerbaijan hadn’t been even close to modern. This isn’t true: just like Israel, Russia supplied Azerbaijan with their latest weaponry. Moreover, Russia had thus directly urged Azerbaijan to start the April War in 2016.
Nothing has changed in the policy of Russia, although both official Russia and some Armenian officials state the contrary. Russia still arms and will continue to arm Azerbaijan, though they might try to do it more covertly from now on.
Furthermore, recently, Russian media stated that Russia is going to deploy units of military police that had been specially trained in Vladikavkaz. If this happens, it will mean the factual occupation of Armenia. Official Armenia hasn’t responded to those statements yet, meaning that Armenia’s involvement in that affair remains unclear.
Apart from that, the idea of Artsakh’s separation from Armenia is being strongly propagandized, and even the government of the Republic of Artsakh is involved. Lately, the president of Artsakh Bako Sahakyan articulated Russia’s position in regard to Azerbaijani refugees. Sahakyan said that refugees may return to Artsakh if they acknowledge its jurisdiction. This could be an attempt of Artsakh to make peace with Azerbaijan.
This isn’t the first time Artsakh tries to establish contact with Azerbaijan in spite of the policy of Armenia. In the declaration of independence of Armenia, Artsakh is represented as an inseparable part of Armenia. The statements of Sahakyan thereby call into question the declaration of independence, as well as the policy and sovereignty of whole Armenia.
And the material titled “Will Aliyev hear president Sahakyan?” published in the Russian media clearly shows that Sahakyan acts in accordance with the will of Russia.
Russia, an “ally” of Armenia, continues to arm the foe of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and prepares some kind of intervention through their military police units. Armenian officials are concerned about the increasing anti-Russian attitudes in the Armenian society. And lastly, Arstakh meets Russia halfway, thus facilitating and even contributing to its alienation from Armenia. All this is exceptionally concerning for Armenia.
But does Russia think that we forgot or did not know who provoked and continues to provoke this long conflict? No, we do remember and we do know everything. And that’s because Armenian sons and daughters stood up and even gave their lives for their country and people. And today, protecting Armenia politically and culturally may be more important than ever in its history.
