BAKU CALLS FOR SERIOUS INVESTIGATION OF RUSSIAN ARMS DELIVERIES TO ARMENIA.

Azerbaijani prosecutor general Eldar Hasanov yesterday contradicted an assertion by the Russian chief military prosecutor, Yury Demin, that Baku had failed to make available its evidence of clandestine Russian arms deliveries to Armenia. Hasanov stated that Baku had forwarded "a good deal of documents… some of them revealed by Russian officials," and "showing when, where, on what instructions, on what routes, and in what amounts the deliveries were made." (Turan, November 5)

Demin, speaking in Moscow the preceding day, also stated that his office is investigating Col. Gen. Fedor Reut, former commander of the Transcaucasus Military District, on suspicion of involvement in the illicit arms deliveries to Armenia. (Russian agencies, November 4) On the same day in Baku, President Haidar Aliev renewed the demand for a serious investigation in Moscow, publication of the findings, and repatriation of those arms to Russia. Aliev added that "the presence of Russian military bases in Georgia and Armenia undermines confidence among CIS countries." (Turan, November 4)

At the CIS summit in Chisinau on October 23-24, Russian president Boris Yeltsin declared under pressure from Aliev that "many [Russian] military commanders have been dismissed" in connection with those arms deliveries. (See Monitor, October 24) This appeared to have been an improvised and defensive response on Yeltsin’s part and has not been repeated since, even as the issue continues to fester.

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