Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of increasing troops deployed on the border

MADRID, September 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinian, accused Azerbaijan this Thursday of increasing the number of troops deployed in the border area and warned that Baku “intends to carry out a new military provocation against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.”

Pashinyan stated that “false narratives are circulating with the intention of justifying this provocation” and added that “hateful rhetoric against Armenia has increased in the Azeri press and propaganda platforms.”

“I emphasize Armenia’s commitment to the agreements reached on December 14, 2021 in Brussels, on October 6, 2022 in Prague and in 2023 in Brussels, as well as with the trilateral agreement of November 9, 2020,” he highlighted, in reference to the ceasefire that ended the conflict that broke out that year.

The prime minister has also supported “the dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert – capital of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno Karabakh – within the framework of international mechanisms to address the rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh and the unblocking of the corridor of Lachin”.

Likewise, he emphasized that “based on these terms, Armenia is prepared and wants to sign a peace agreement and achieve the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan,” as reported by the Armenian news agency Armenpress. “We express our commitment to the peace agenda,” she concluded.

For its part, the Armenian Ministry of Defense denounced this Thursday in a brief statement published on its website that during the early hours of the morning “units of the Azeri Armed Forces opened fire on Armenian combat posts near Norabak.”

In response, the Azeri Ministry of Defense has accused Armenian forces of “attempting to dig new trenches in an area of ​​Azerbaijani territory where Russian peacekeeping forces are temporarily deployed, in order to approach military positions in the Aghdam region.” .

Armenia and Azerbaijan have exchanged numerous accusations in recent months of violating the 2020 ceasefire, which ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War – after that of 1994 -. The conflict ended with victory for Azerbaijan, which recovered territories taken by Armenia in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, including the important city of Shusha.

Since then, both countries have maintained various contacts to try to sign a peace agreement, although the talks have encountered various obstacles, including the situation around the Lachin corridor, which connects Armenia with the self-proclaimed republic of Arstakh. The area has the presence of Russian soldiers deployed as peacekeepers under the aforementioned ceasefire agreement.