A 210 million euro contract that helped Azerbaijan win the 44-day war

As part of his official visit to Poland, RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan in Warsaw on May 5 has met also with Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense Robert Kaliniak, who also participated in the “Defence24 Days” conference.

During the meeting, issues related to cooperation between Armenia and Slovakia in the field of defense were discussed, and prospects of cooperation were discussed.

Both sides emphasized the directions of military education, exchange of professional experience, exercises and military-technical cooperation, and an agreement was reached on giving the cooperation a practical course in the near future.

It should be noted that in 2024, the Deputy Minister of Defense Karen Brutyan met with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Slovakia Robert Kaliniak within the framework of the IDEB-2024 defense exhibition in Bratislava, issues related to the military-technical and military-technological cooperation between Armenia and Slovakia were discussed, and a number of agreements were reached.

As for what kind of military-technical cooperation we are talking about, of what quality, moreover, how and to what extent will Armenia succeed in achieving the practical course of military-technical agreements with Slovakia, time will tell. After all, we are dealing with a country and an official who have had strategic relations with Azerbaijan for a long time.

In 2025 we we reported that Aliyev intends to purchase automatic artillery systems from Slovakia, and not only that. Already this year we wrote that Slovakia and Azerbaijan have signed a big deal. We are talking about a framework contract worth 210 million euros, with which SAM-120 automatic mortars will be supplied. Slovak Defense Minister Robert Kaliniak said the first batch of supplies, which includes 96 mortars, had been agreed.

In addition, Azerbaijan and Slovakia have agreed to cooperate in the field of self-propelled artillery installations, ammunition production. technologies from Slovakia, and financial means from Azerbaijan. In other words, as Aliyev noted, “we are talking about the formation of synergy, when by combining Slovakian technologies and Azerbaijan’s financial capabilities, it is possible to create a new product that will be of interest to the world markets as well.”

It should be noted that, according to various reports, Czech-made Dana self-propelled howitzers and RM-70 rocket launcher systems arrived from Slovakia, Israel, and then Azerbaijan and were used in the 44-day war. Moreover, the Armenian side warned Slovakia and the Czech Republic about this at different levels even before the 2020 war. we wrote 

Therefore, in this case, the presence of Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense Robert Kaliniak at the Baku military parade dedicated to the 5th year of the Azerbaijani victory in the 44-day war becomes legal. Among the honored guests present at the military parade in the published photos to appear was also the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajčak, who also plays a major role in arming Azerbaijan.

And Robert Kaliniak was the Minister of Internal Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia in 2006-2010 and 2012-2018, and since 2023 he is the Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia.

Let’s remind that in 2025 “Hetk” had written that Slovakian Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák twice stated in interviews with the local TA3 TV station that Armenia had “occupied the territory of Azerbaijan”.

After these statements, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fitzo, arrived in Armenia on an official visit. It is not known whether Nikol Pashinyan expressed his displeasure with him in the meeting with him. Instead, it is known that after Kalinyak’s accusation of “occupying Azerbaijan’s territories” was addressed to Armenia, Pashinyan’s government did not follow up the clarification, explanation, nor was a note of protest sent to Slovakia for at least two months.

And now it would be naive to expect that after more than a year, this issue will be discussed with RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, and time will tell how successful Slovakia-Armenia military-technical cooperation will be.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan is a military-technical “model” of cooperation with Slovakia cooperation also started with the Czech Republic.

Let us add that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni left for Baku from Yerevan on May 5, and the defense and security sphere was also on the agenda of negotiations with Aliyev. And during a joint press conference with Aliyev, he considered defense and security as one of the most important areas of cooperation with Baku, especially in the areas of aerospace industry, maritime security, critical infrastructure protection and advanced technologies, where Italy has achievements.

“We propose a model where cooperation between industrial systems leads to knowledge sharing, joint developments,” Meloni emphasized.

Aliyev also considered the military-technical cooperation with Italy as promising.

«We have specific ideas on implementing joint projects, organizing joint production, combining Italian technologies and Azerbaijani financial resources.” he noted.

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