A high-profile weapons scandal has hit relations between Kyiv and Baku
Ukraine found itself on the verge of a major scandal with Baku due to President Vladimir Zelensky’s unspoken decision to suspend the implementation of the Ukrspetsexport contract with Azerbaijan for the supply of components for P-18 radar stations.
The Kiev online publication Zerkalo Nedeli writes about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Citing its sources, the publication indicates that Zelensky gave the order to suspend the implementation of the contract orally about a month ago, after Baku began the military operation in Karabakh.
It is noted that Zelensky’s position was influenced both by the presence of a significant Armenian diaspora in Ukraine, one of whose influential representatives is the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, and the reaction of France and the United States, dissatisfied with the actions of Azerbaijan and Turkey.
However, Zelensky’s verbal order was not carried out: at the end of October, Ukrspetsexport sent a plane with components for the P-18 to Azerbaijan, after which a scandal erupted, which was the subject of a meeting in the president’s office.
It is noted that no organizational conclusions were reached at the meeting with the president, but further deliveries of components for the P-18 were again tacitly paused.
“At the same time, Kyiv is also preparing for explanations with the Azerbaijani side. Indeed, as a result, a blow was dealt to the reputation of Ukraine as a reliable partner of Azerbaijan in the field of military-technical cooperation. Ahead lies the prospect of worsening Ukrainian-Azerbaijani relations and fading hopes of getting a $300 million loan from Baku.
But this story is also an illustration of the problems in the functioning of the Ukrainian state, when systemic failures occur in the functioning of the mechanisms of the state machine and the orders of the president are not implemented. As well as an example of the fact that the disregard by the head of state and his office of bureaucratic procedures for formalizing decisions made gives officials and managers of state-owned companies legal grounds not to comply with them,” ZN summarizes.
Previously, deputy of the presidential party “Servant of the People” Lyudmila Marchenko stated that Kyiv is ready to provide military support for Azerbaijan in the confrontation with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, which caused the indignation of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov.
As PolitNavigator reported, Armenians accused Ukraine of killing residents Nagorno-Karabakh
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