Belarus is ready to continue developing military partnership with Azerbaijan. This was stated by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, First Deputy Minister of Defense, Major General Pavel Muraveyko, who visited the 5th anniversary Azerbaijan International Defense Exhibition ADEX-2024 in Baku. As P. Muraveyko noted, the Belarus-Azerbaijan military-technical cooperation is of a strategic nature. "We are very pleased to study the experience of Azerbaijan, whether it is military construction, mastering modern military equipment or conflict resolution. Not only military structures, but also friendly relations between the heads of state play an important role in the development of our relations in this area. These friendly relations allow us to move forward," P. Muraveyko said.
Caliber.Az correspondent discussed prospects of military-technical cooperation between Baku and Minsk with Belarusian experts.
As noted by the Belarusian military expert, retired colonel, professor of the Academy of Military Sciences of the Russian Federation Alexander Tikhansky, unfortunately, Armenia is still a partner of Belarus in the CSTO and the EAEU, but due to the recent statements by Pashinyan and the Western course of his government, the Belarusian authorities have long and consistently relied on the development of close ties with Azerbaijan. He stressed that Baku is indeed one of the key partners of official Minsk in the field of military-technical cooperation (MTC), and a relevant agreement has been concluded between the State Military-Industrial Committee of the Republic of Belarus (SMIC) and the Ministry of Defense Industry of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
"I recall that over the past 20 years, Azerbaijan has been a leader in the procurement of various types of weapons from Belarus: in the first place in the purchase of tanks and artillery; in the second – in the purchase of armored vehicles, in the third – in the purchase of combat aircrafts. Back in October 2020, that is, at the height of the Second Karabakh War, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, named Belarus, along with Russia, Turkey and Israel, as the main suppliers of equipment and weapons for the needs of the Azerbaijani army. According to available expert estimates, the value of the total package of Belarusian-Azerbaijani arms trade deals has long exceeded $1 billion.
Belarus has tried to maintain partnership relations with Armenia in the military sphere, but objectively the material capabilities of the Armenian side in terms of potential cooperation with enterprises of the Belarusian military-industrial complex are much lower than those of Azerbaijan. I would also like to emphasize that since November 2020, the post of Ambassador of Belarus to Azerbaijan has been held by Colonel-General Andrei Ravkov, former Minister of Defense and Secretary of State of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus. In this regard, it is considered in the Belarusian expert community that, by sending a high-ranking representative of the security bloc to Baku, Alexander Lukashenko once again stressed the trusting nature of relations with Ilham Aliyev and the importance of cooperation between the two states in the field of defense and security. It is also very symbolic that Ravkov's successor as Minister of Defense of Belarus, Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin, paid his first foreign visit to Azerbaijan.
According to reports, the parties are currently paying special attention to bilateral projects in the field of technology and weapons development, agreements on which were reached during a visit to the Belarusian military exhibition MILEX-2021 by the Minister of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan and will continue in Baku, where the ADEX-2024 exhibition is currently taking place. Belarusian gunsmiths presented their developments at the exhibition, in particular the Sapphire grenade launcher, the 9A33MB combat vehicle designed to destroy airplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles and drones. In addition, all-terrain armored vehicles, a battery command post and an artillery transport vehicle are displayed.
It is worth emphasizing that many aspects of cooperation in the field of military-technical cooperation are kept secret, but even open information allows to draw a conclusion about long-term and close cooperation between Azerbaijan and Belarus in this area,” A. Tikhansky said.
As the military expert noted, the significant successes of Baku, which managed to restore full control over Karabakh in September 2023, were positively received by the leadership of Belarus. In his opinion, after Baku's victory in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the ties between Belarus and Azerbaijan have rather strengthened, but the already difficult relations between Minsk and Yerevan will only worsen.
"Let us recall that during Lukashenko's visit to Baku in May this year, he said that "the difficult time has come when it is necessary to revive these lands, it is necessary to return people ...". The President of Belarus noted that this work would require a lot of time and a lot of work, and Minsk is ready to provide support in this direction.
It is logical that Azerbaijan, which received an impetus to development as a result of the victory in the war, is interested in reformatting the existing state of military–technical cooperation with Belarus – from the modernization of Soviet equipment and the import of Belarusian weapons to joint R&D (Research and Development), which represents a higher stage of interaction. At the same time, based on the statements of public officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian side is ready to satisfy any requests from Azerbaijani partners, which means that Baku and Minsk are potentially ready to deepen cooperation in the military-technical sphere and are capable of intensifying interaction,” A. Tikhansky said with confidence.
At the same time, according to the Candidate of Political Sciences, Doctor of Philosophy, chief adviser of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research Anatoly Boyashov, the build-up of military-technical cooperation proves the reliability of the partnership between Minsk and Baku. First of all, this partnership is conditioned by the common national interests of the two countries.
"Consistency of foreign policy is fundamentally important for both Azerbaijan and Belarus. Minsk is interested in stable regional development, smooth functioning of transport and communication corridors, and bringing the pace of economic development to a new level. The stability of the respective regions depends on the national welfare and the level of defense capability of Belarus and Azerbaijan, for this reason, the intensification of military-technical cooperation is logical and timely. The high level of defense capability makes it possible to consolidate the peaceful development agenda and prevent provocations.
In addition to professionalism and consistency in foreign policy, Belarus and Azerbaijan adhere to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs. We are interested in the national socio-political characteristics of each other, the identity of the development of our states. It is for this reason that the economic, transport and logistics interconnectedness of the two states leads to mutual intercultural enrichment, rather than political dictate. As a result, mutually beneficial cooperation is developing. An example of this is the coordination of our approaches in the UN and other international platforms. Alexander Lukashenko's visit to Shusha was a vivid illustration of the unity of our approaches. Agreements were reached on Belarus' participation in the restoration of the liberated territories, emphasis was placed on the historical memory and the high importance of the city of Shusha as a standard of cultural revival.
In conditions of turbulence, the determining factors in building relationships are not big words and political technologies, but reliability and professionalism. It is pleasant that our countries rely on these components. Therefore, we expect a consistent filling of the strategic partnership between Belarus and Azerbaijan,” A. Boyashev summed up.