Armenia has described Belarus’ decision to sell Polonez multiple-launch rocket systems to Azerbaijan as regrettable and illogical.

“We regret that Belarus, which is a country friendly to us, takes part in multilateral formats [of cooperation] together with us and has allied obligations, sells weapons to the country that has a conflict with us. This issue will be brought up in due course. It is not very logical, bearing in mind that Armenia and Belarus have friendly and allied relations,” Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Ruben Rubinyan told Radio Liberty.

Earlier on Monday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was shown Belarusian-made Polonez multiple-launch missile systems adopted by Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces.

A source close to the Belarusian Defense Ministry told the Russian newspaper Kommersant earlier that Baku could begin buying Polonez systems from Minsk in 2018.

According to the newspaper, the first firm contract stipulates the delivery of ten systems (which consist of rockets, erectors-transporters, a command post, radar stations, etc.).

The Polonez heavy long-range multiple-launch rocket system was created in 2015 as part of military-technical cooperation between Belarus and China. One Polonez system is equipped with eight missiles and is mounted on an MZKT-7930 wheeled chassis. It uses independently targeted missiles with a range of up to 200 kilometers and an accuracy of up to 1.7 meters. The warhead yield is equivalent to 50 kilograms of TNT. New long-range missiles for the Polonez system with a range of up to 300 kilometers were demonstrated at the MILEX-2017 exhibition in Minsk.

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