The Azerbaijani media have reported on an exchange of fire on the border with Armenia's Tavush Region and establishment of control on certain positions. The Armenian side is not denying that the adversary has made movements on the frontline, but is saying that Azerbaijan is trying to sell usual movements on its own territory as a great achievement. In addition, there have been reports on an Armenian soldier, who was wounded.
What is yet another activeness of Azerbaijani troops linked to? Reports on the inspection of operational readiness of the artillery with fusillade have also appeared today. A day earlier, Azerbaijan reported that an Armenian soldier was captured.
All this is happening on the day of Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev's visit to Armenia. At his negotiations in Yerevan, Patrushev also discussed "the problem of regulating sales of weapons to third countries". In other words, Yerevan raised the problem of arms sales to Azerbaijan for yet another time at negotiations with Moscow and Moscow gave yet another promise to "regulate" them.
While Patrushev was in Yerevan, the Kremlin made a statement on cancelling the summit between [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani, and [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev. At the same time, the Azerbaijani media published materials about Iran and Russia opposing the laying of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea bed. Turkey, for its part, renounced flights to [Azerbaijan's exclave of] Naxcivan via the Armenian and Iranian airspaces, sending planes along the narrow "sovereign" corridor [connecting Turkish territory to Naxcivan]. Immediately after this, Aliyev made a phone call to Rouhani. Although the official report mentioned friendly relations between the two countries, the implications made insurmountable contradictions visible in the context. It was no accident that the Iranian consul in Naxcivan paid a visit to the administration of the region today and held important talks with its leadership.
Several days ago, Deputy Armenian Defence Minister Gabriyel Balayan said that the Armenian Armed Forces gained advantage on several combat positions on the border with Azerbaijan as a result of some engineering work done. "We have significant achievements as a result of engineering work. The objectives set for the engineering troops are being achieved. The recent round of tensions on the border was linked to the adversary's attempts to prevent us from attaining advantages," Balayan said.
The adversary also attempted to achieve positional advantage, but the Armenian Armed Forces prevent them from achieving it, he said. On 27 and 28 July, a soldier of the Armed Forces of the Republic Armenia, Arman Bulghadaryan was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting attack from Azerbaijan on the north-eastern segment of Armenia's state border.
Let us recall that on 21 June, the chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group [that is mediating in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] made a statement, which urged parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to refrain from any provocative actions. "including the use of snipers and engineering work along the line of contact and the international border".
It is difficult to avoid skirmishes during engineering work, but it is assumed that both sides pursue the same goal, when doing it – to reinforce the existing border.
