[Armenian News note: the below is translated from the Russian edition of news.am]
The Armenian Defence Ministry and the president's office of Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh have criticised military exercises to be conducted by Azerbaijan on 11-15 March, the Armenian media reported on 8 March.
The Armenian Defence Ministry rapped Azerbaijan for what it called Azerbaijan's failure to notify in advance the parties to the Vienna agreement and the Karabakh president's spokesman accused Azerbaijan of intimidation, News.am website said in two separate reports.
Their comments came in response to the statement by the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry on a "large-scale" exercise on 11-15 March under a plan endorsed by President Ilham Aliyev. The drills are to involve about 10,000 soldiers, up to 500 tanks and armoured and other vehicles and special hardware, up to 300 different rocket systems and artillery mounts, multiple rocket launchers and mortars, and up to 20 different army and front-line aircraft.
Attempted 'pressure'
Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the spokesperson of the Armenian defence minister, also tied the drills to the upcoming meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azebraijani President Ilham Aliyev.
"It is assumed that these drills are organised under the context of a meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev and are an attempt of putting pressure in response to Armenia's statement that it is not going to cede any lands to Azerbaijan whatsoever," News.am quoted Hovhannisyan as saying in a Facebook post.
David Babayan, the spokesman of the Karabakh leader, claimed that the upcoming military exercises targeted Karabakh and Armenia.
"We will not be frightened. We will continue to develop and strengthen our country and boost combat capabilities of our army as well as pursue the right geopolitical policy. This is the key to resisting such aggression," News.am quoted Babayan as saying in a separate report on 8 March.
Babayan also expressed doubt that Azerbaijan could face criticism from the international community.
"Unfortunately, the international community remains silent. It did not say anything either, when criminal Ramil Safarov was released, nor did it say anything about other vile actions by Azerbaijan," Babayan said, referring to Ramil Safarov, convicted and jailed in Hungary for killing of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan during a Nato workshop in Budapest in 2004 and pardoned by Aliyev after he was handed over to Azerbaijan in 2012.
Baku and Yerevan are locked in a conflict over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, which, along with seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan, came under the control of ethnic Armenians in the early 1990s. Peace talks between Baku and Yerevan have been mediated by France, Russia, and the United States in their capacity of co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
The Armenian media had reported earlier that Pashinyan and Aliyev agreed to hold a meeting. The date of the meeting has yet to be announced.
