Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated Azerbaijan is “concentrating” troops on the border and in addition close to the mountainous Karabakh area managed by separatists. File
| Picture Credit score: Reuters
Armenia on September 7 accused Azerbaijan of getting ready a army provocation in opposition to its forces by concentrating troops alongside the arch-foes’ shared border and close to the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh area.
The ex-Soviet republics have been locked in a decades-long battle over the principally Armenian-populated area of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan.
Tensions between Baku and Yerevan have escalated sharply in latest months, as either side accuse the opposite of cross-border assaults.
“The military-political scenario in our area has significantly worsened,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan instructed his cupboard assembly in Yerevan.
He stated Azerbaijan is “concentrating” troops on the border and in addition close to the mountainous Karabakh area managed by separatists.
“Azerbaijan is demonstrating its intention to undertake a recent army provocation in opposition to Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia,” Mr. Pashinyan stated.
Azerbaijan denounced the claims as “yet one more false political manipulation.”
“Armenia should abandon territorial claims to Azerbaijan, to finish military-political provocations, and to cease creating obstacles to the peace course of,” its international ministry stated in a press release.
‘Strategic mistake’
Mr. Pashinyan’s claims got here forward of snap presidential elections within the separatist enclave on Saturday and days earlier than joint drills between Armenian and U.S. peacekeeping forces hosted by Yerevan.
The Kremlin on Thursday criticised the drills, saying they might hurt stability within the risky Caucasus area that Moscow sees as its yard.
“For sure, the conduct of those sorts of workout routines don’t assist to stabilise the scenario or strengthen the environment of mutual belief within the area,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated.
“Russia continues to fulfil its perform as a guarantor of safety,” he added.
Yerevan has accused Baku of blockading Nagorno-Karabakh since December, spurring a humanitarian disaster in Armenian-populated cities.
Mr. Pashinyan has criticised Moscow for failing to unblock the only real highway linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, which is being patrolled by Russian peacekeepers.
They deployed in 2020 when Russia brokered a ceasefire ending a warfare between Armenia and Azerbaijan for management of the breakaway area.
Mr. Pashinyan just lately stated it was a “strategic mistake” for Yerevan — a conventional Moscow ally — to depend on Russia as its safety guarantor.
Yerevan and Baku have fought two wars for management over the area, which is internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan however largely populated by ethnic Armenians.
The 2 sides have been unable to succeed in an enduring peace settlement regardless of mediation efforts by the European Union, the USA and Russia.
