Հոդվածներ

The problem of illegal arms deliveries from Europe to Azerbaijan has long been relevant. Today the international community is still weakly reacting to the published evidence of the implementation of these deliveries.

The next phase of an intriguing scandal is brewing.

Currently, the Slovak prosecutor’s office is considering a statement by local civic activist Ashot Grigoryan, which contains a petition to deal with the illegal activities of the country's former foreign minister, former chairman of the OSCE, and former chairman of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, Miroslav Lajčak.

According to Grigoryan, this particular official bears full responsibility for the supply of arms to Azerbaijan.

Starting in 2017, information began to appear in the media that, in violation of international agreements, unauthorized sales of large-caliber weapon systems manufactured in Slovakia to Azerbaijan had been carried out. The cargo consisted of 36 units of modern self-propelled howitzers Dana M-1 and 30 missile launchers Vampire RM-70. The manufacturer of these systems is the Slovak company MSM Group, s.r.o., which is owned by the Czechoslovak Group, a.s., a Czech businessman Jaroslav Strnad.

From Slovakia, all this was taken by the plane of the Azerbaijani airline Silk Way, which does not keep secret information about its owners. There is good reason to believe that a significant share in it is controlled by the family of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

The transfer took place according to the following scheme: the board flew to Bratislava, where "goods" were loaded into it. Then he flew to Tel Aviv, where he stood for several hours, and then took a course with new documents to the capital of Azerbaijan - Baku. From there - again to Slovakia. Between September 2017 and June 2018, the plane made this route between Bratislava, Tel Aviv and Baku 66 times.

In Europe, the arms seller could not obtain the so-called "End-user Certificate of defense products" necessary for the sale of military equipment to Azerbaijan. As a rule, such a document is signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this case, it was Miroslav Lajchak. He signed a certificate for the Israeli arms company Elbit as an end user, which in fact was only the intermediary party to the contract.

Particular piquancy to the case is given by the fact that the deal was approved by the person directly responsible for ensuring that EU countries do not sell weapons to hot spots and areas of frozen conflicts.

In other words, Lajcak, being the chairman of the OSCE, certainly should not have allowed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic (that is, himself) to participate in the illegal operation. Moreover, the OSCE Chairperson, after discovering such actions by the Minister, was to bring to justice such a Minister (that is, himself) and the country (Slovakia) for violating the embargo.

What will be the reaction of the prosecutor’s office, the court, as well as the cabinet of Prime Minister Matovich, who has long been building his image of a fighter against corruption?

While the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the EU is undergoing ratification, the Armenian leadership refrains from commenting on the investigation of the circumstances of the criminal scheme for the supply of European weapons to Azerbaijan.

The European Union is still considered the main partner of Armenia in the creation of state structures that are called upon to eliminate corruption.

Armenia is committed to developing partnerships with the EU based on shared democratic values and cultural communities. But as you can see, in a progressive European society, too, not everything is so innocent and cloudless. Therefore, one should not be surprised that the Eastern Partnership program does not bring large-scale dividends to the development of Armenia.