Azerbaijan says localised anti-terrorist measures launched in Nagorno-Karabakh

The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry announced local anti-terrorist measures in Nagorno-Karabakh. The formal reason for the operation was the explosion on mines of two units of equipment in the “grey zone”: Azerbaijanis claim that civilians were killed.

The Azerbaijani army has unilaterally launched an anti-terrorist operation “to restore constitutional order” on the territory of the unrecognised republic of Artsakh. This was reported by the Defence Ministry of the republic. The ministry informed the Russian peacekeepers and the monitoring centre about what was happening.

It happened a day after the Russian peacekeepers managed to solve the issue with the humanitarian blockade of the unrecognised republic of Artsakh and unblocking of the humanitarian corridor from the side of Aghdam and Lachin.

The Defence Ministry of the republic noted that peaceful “population and civil infrastructure objects are not targets”. Azerbaijan intends to disable “only legitimate military targets”.

“In order to ensure the provisions of the trilateral statement (Moscow-Baku-Yerevan), to stop large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic region, to disarm and withdraw formations of the Armenian armed forces from our territories, neutralise their military infrastructure, to ensure the safety of civilians who have returned to the territories liberated from occupation, civil servants involved in construction and reconstruction work and our military personnel, as well as to restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan”.

In May, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Yerevan is ready to recognise Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan if the security of the Armenian population is ensured. He also pointed to the need for international guarantees in this process.

Pashinyan specified that the “territorial integrity” of Azerbaijan within 86,600 square kilometres, which Yerevan recognises, includes Nagorno-Karabakh. In turn, Baku recognises the territorial integrity of Armenia within 29.8 thousand square kilometres.

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