MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2019) Russia has sent a note of protest to Armenia over a disruption of an arms tender, in which Russian arms producer ORSIS participated, and asked Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan to settle the situation, according to the document, whose copy was shared with Sputnik.
In August, ORSIS told Sputnik that a criminal case had been opened on charges of negligence in Armenia in the wake of the disruption of the Armenian Defense Ministry's tender for deliveries of millions of Dollars' worth of arms to the country. The information was subsequently confirmed to Sputnik by the Armenian military.
The note to Tonoyan, signed on October 22 by Russian Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Оleg Ryazancev, read that ORSIS' application for participating in the tender had been dismissed "without any compelling grounds," while the company was "included in the list of unfair contractors [of the Armenian Armed Forces] for no reason."
The Russian minister also noted that the Armenian Defense Ministry had no grounds to ask to be paid a compensation for participating in the tender, because, under the law, the company would have to make such payment only if it won the tender but refused to sign a contract.
"I am asking you to look into this situation and issue instructions on taking measures to settle it," the document read.
Meanwhile, an informed source told Sputnik that the noted had been passed to the Russian Foreign Ministry and would be sent to Armenian diplomats in the near future.
