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Russia seeks "parity" in arms sales to Armenia, Azerbaijan

Xinhua, July 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russia seeks "parity" in arms sales to Armenia and Azerbaijan amid a deteriorating situation in Nagorno-Karabakh region over which the two neighboring countries have been in dispute for decades, a Russian official said on Monday.

"The conflict begins, despite that one side is armed better or worse. It's necessary to seek for parity," said Alexander Fomin, director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation in an interview with Russian newspaper Izvestiya.

The main task of military-technical cooperation is to keep peace and stability in the world, he said, "We believe that conflict situation shouldn't be resolved by arms. There is certain parity."

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a dispute over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988, when the enclave dominated by ethnic Armenians claimed independence from Azerbaijan and declared to join Armenia.

Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a ceasefire agreement was reached, but there have been occasional minor clashes.

New clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces took place in the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh in early April, which resulted in numerous casualties on both sides. Endi