Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25
By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:
The United Kingdom operates a very strict export licensing policy and enforces OSCE sanctions on sales of military equipment to the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the embassy of Great Britain in Baku told Trend.
The embassy was commenting on the video, spread by the Armenian media, which demonstrates British Accuracy International company's sniper rifles used by the Armenian special forces.
"The UK has therefore never supplied sniper rifles to Armenia," the embassy said. "We are aware of two rifles being exported from the UK to France under an approved export license (in 2012) which were then exported from France to Armenia and displayed at an Arms Exhibition."
Accuracy International is a British manufacturer of firearms. The company is widely known for producing a series of Accuracy International Arctic Warfare high-accuracy sniper rifles.
"Whilst the rifle shown in the video is the same model there is no evidence it is one of the rifles from the exhibition," the embassy said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
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