The acquisition of weapons by us is not more than 15-20 percent of the weapons acquired by Azerbaijan. Pashinyan

The first beneficiaries of peace are Armenia and Azerbaijan. RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this in an interview with the British media.

"This theoretical thesis, which, of course, sounds very theoretical, can step by step get an objective expression. It is especially important that in the last 5 months we have reached two major agreements with Azerbaijan. And it is his expression that in the end it is the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan who are the beneficiaries of peace.

That is, of course, investors, yes, of course, global economic stability, yes, but first of all, we are the beneficiaries of peace. And in this regard, a number of statements from Azerbaijan, which refer to the reforms and modernization of the Armenian army, worry us. Why, because you rightly noticed, if we look at the ratio of the military budgets of Azerbaijan and Armenia, there is a significant imbalance there, and yes, that ratio is also shaped by the revenues of Azerbaijan through the transactions you mentioned.

But what worries us is that even in the conditions of this imbalance, Azerbaijan reacts very aggressively to the reforms of the armed forces of Armenia and the acquisition of weapons and equipment, although we all understand that these achievements have exclusively defensive significance," said Pashinyan. He reiterated his earlier point that no country can dispute the right of any other country to have a combat-ready army. "I think we should record that having a combat-capable army, yes, is sometimes used for war, but having a combat-capable army is also important for peace, for forming the right balance of power.

And this is also the reason why, when Azerbaijan raises these issues, in particular, the purchase of weapons by us, which is not more than 15-20 percent of the weapons purchased by Azerbaijan, both financially and in terms of volume, and is mainly of a defensive nature and has defensive significance, but we also do not leave those statements unanswered.

We proposed to Azerbaijan to create a mutual bilateral mechanism of arms control. In other words, to be able to provide our weapons within the limits of these mutual agreements and not to provoke an arms race in our region.

We have proposed and continue to propose that a mirror withdrawal of troops take place in 1991. From the border recorded by the Declaration of Alma-Ata. That record, that offer still stands. We have proposed to sign a non-aggression agreement even before reaching an agreement on a peace treaty, because it is a very simple agreement that we, especially now that in 1991 We have put the Alma-Ata declaration at the basis of our demarcation and demarcation process, we can, it is a very simple document, sign that we will not attack each other, based on the fact that we have recognized each other's territorial integrity and have no territorial ambitions towards each other," he emphasized. is the Prime Minister of Armenia.

Therefore, with this logic, I think we should continue to work, and the agreement reached last Friday by the two countries' commissions dealing with border demarcation issues, such agreements themselves can contribute to stability," he said.