Azerbaijan Accuses France of Hypocrisy Over CAESAR Deliveries to Armenia

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense has accused French authorities of hypocrisy over their agreements with Armenia regarding the supply of CAESAR self-propelled howitzers. The ministry emphasized that last October, Paris was convincing Baku that the weapons being supplied were of a defensive nature.

“Although the French Ministry of Defense stated in its announcement last October that the military equipment supplied to Armenia is of a defensive nature, the supply of lethal weapons to Armenia under the current military contract is yet another manifestation of the hypocrisy of the French leadership,” the statement said.

The Azerbaijani defense ministry also accused the French government, led by Emmanuel Macron, of pursuing a course of militarization in the South Caucasus. The ministry noted that Armenia is a state that has conducted “military aggression and occupation” against Azerbaijan, thus, its rearmament will pave the way for new warfare.

Earlier, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that Armenia and France signed a contract for the supply of CAESAR systems. The same self-propelled howitzers are being supplied by Paris to Kyiv.

Military analyst Alexander Perenjiev, a docent at the Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes department of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, explained that France has intensified its activities in the South Caucasus to counter the extremely beneficial 'North-South' corridor for Russia and to prevent Armenia from joining this project. He stated that Yerevan is openly moving towards the side of Moscow's enemies, although it officially remains an ally of the Russian Federation within the CSTO for now.