Armenian minister: Baku not implementing statement on cessation of hostilities in Karabakh

TASS, Russia
Aug 31 2021
"Azerbaijan is making provocative steps, which are a direct infringement upon Armenia’s sovereign territory," Ararat Mirzoyan emphasized

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. The situation in the South Caucasus is still tense because of Azerbaijan’s destructive policy and its avoiding the implementation of the November 9, 2020, trilateral statement on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, visiting Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Tuesday after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"Stability in our region is our strategy and we are ready for an active dialogue to attain this goal. However, the situation in the region is still rather tense, which is due, to a larger extent, to Azerbaijan’s destructive policy. I want to state that Baku is not fulfilling its commitments under the November 9, 2020, trilateral statement by the Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani leaders, which was reached thanks to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s personal efforts," he said.

"Azerbaijan is making provocative steps, which are a direct infringement upon Armenia’s sovereign territory," he emphasized.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachinsky corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. Apart from that, a number of districts came over to Baku’s control.

The situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border has been tense since May 12, when Armenia’s defense ministry said that Azerbaijani armed forces had tried to carry out "certain works" in a border area in Syunik Province in a bid to "adjust the border. Since then, the sides have been reporting border incidents from time to time.


Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS