Russia accounted for almost all of Armenia’s arms imports over the past five years, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a fresh report on Monday, March 9.

"In 2015–19 there were again armed clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both countries are building up their military capability through imports, including missiles capable of attacking targets inside each other’s territory," the Institute says.

Also, the report says, a total of 60% of Azerbaijan’s arms imports came from Israel and 31 per cent from Russia.

International transfers of major arms during the five-year period 2015–19 increased by 5.5 per cent compared with 2010–14. According to new data from SIPRI, the largest exporters of arms during the past five years were the United States, Russia, France, Germany and China. The new data shows that the flow of arms to the Middle East has increased, with Saudi Arabia clearly being the world’s largest importer.