BAKU. Dec 18 (Interfax) - Azerbaijan will keep buying weapons from Russia, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.
"Yes, we are planning to do it. Yet, I should say that no new contracts for buying Russian weapons have been signed at least for the past three years," Aliyev said in an interview with Russia' VGTRK broadcaster.
The reason why contracts have been suspended is that the Russian defense sector is working for the domestic market, Aliyev said. "As far as I know, Russia has temporarily withdrawn from the global arms market for apparent reasons. Even some contracts signed four years ago have been delayed at Russia's request. We have agreed to that, as we understand why the contracts cannot be fulfilled," he said.
Azerbaijan is closely monitoring new products of the Russian defense sector, Aliyev said.
"We have drafted new applications and have filed them recently. As the Russian defense sector gets ready, of course, we will conclude new contracts. Hence, I view this process as temporarily suspended for objective reasons," Aliyev said.