OREANDA-NEWS  According to the publication of "Kommersant", the supply of the coastal missile complex "Bal-Е" to the armed forces of Azerbaijan fell due to the position of the Russian defense Ministry. The Russian military considered that even export modification of the rocket of this complex can bear potential threat to the ships of the Caspian flotilla of the Russian Federation which are in the Russian territorial waters. The very refusal to supply one type of product to Russia is not critical: in recent years, Baku has purchased Russian weapons and equipment for a total of $5 billion.

The first information about the readiness of the Azerbaijani military to purchase a division of "Bal" — type complexes in export modification appeared in 2014, when the manufacturer of the complex-the Corporation "Tactical missile weapons"  at the exhibition of military equipment and weapons KADEX 2014 in Astana (Kazakhstan) held a special presentation of this coastal missile complex. The interest seemed logical, since Azerbaijan has long been eyeing missile systems capable of covering the coastal zone of its part of the Caspian Sea. Thus, the Azerbaijani military was interested in the coastal missile complex "Bastion" with the anti-ship missile "Yakhont", but it did not come to substantive negotiations, since the corresponding go-ahead for negotiations from Moscow was not received.

"Bal-E" – is an export version of the coastal missile system "Bal", adopted in Russia in 2008, developed in "Machine-Building Design Bureau" (Moscow). The composition of the mobile complex includes self-propelled command centers, control and communications, self-propelled launchers with anti-ship missiles KH-35E, transport and handling machine. It is intended for control of territorial waters, protection of bases, objects of infrastructure of the coast and sea communications. The range of destruction - up to 120 km, the total ammunition complex - up to 64 missiles.

In case of conclusion of a binding contract, Azerbaijan has become the third country, who have adopted the system of the "Ball". Its starting export customer was supposed to be Libya, but due to the civil war that began in the country in March 2011, President Dmitry Medvedev imposed an embargo on the supply of military products. The total amount of lost profits for KTV exceeded €300 million. In the end, the first foreign state, armed "Balls", was Vietnam: in December 2012 it was reported that the tactical missiles Corporation has completed the contract to supply the country anti-ship missiles 3М24 for this coastal missile complex.

Now the issue of supplying "Bal" to the armed forces of Azerbaijan is not discussed, because there is a "very delicate geopolitical nuance". In recent years, the homing head of the x-35 missile has been upgraded to defeat not only sea but also ground targets. "We would not like this weapon to be used in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," he concluded.

The refusal to supply “Bal” should not lead to a cooling of relations between Moscow and Baku. Back in September, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev directly stated that" cooperation in the sphere of military-technical cooperation has great traditions", "contracts implemented between Russia and Azerbaijan exceed $5 billion" and "tend to grow".