Azerbaijani units have once again advanced in the mountainous terrain opposite the village of Nerqin Hand in Armenia's Syunik region, Sputnik Armenia reported.
Earlier, Sputnik Armenia, on the basis of fresh satellite images, recorded a new advance of the enemy in two sections in the mountainous terrain located in the direction of the village. Prior to the publication, the publication sought a comment from the Defense Ministry but did not receive one.
Afterward, the Defense Ministry confirmed that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces had invaded the territory in the direction of the village back in spring 2021. Later they left the territory due to weather conditions and returned after the snowfall. There was no official information about this until March 2022. At the same time, it is clear that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces made their way in this direction in March-April 2022, which can be seen in the satellite photos. The fresh images show that in addition to the already established advance (Arrow 1) Azerbaijani border troops have advanced in two other areas (Arrows 2 and 3), penetrating deeper into the territory of the Syunik region. In one case (Arrow 2) active road construction works were carried out after April 20, in the other (Arrow 3) presumably in May.
Today, however, the Armenian Defense Ministry says there is no repeated advance of Azerbaijani units in front of Nerqin Hand village in Syunik region. The defense ministry circulated a statement in which, referring to its statement of March 21, notes that the deployment of Azerbaijani units in the specified section of the border occurred after November 9, 2020, i.e. in the post-war period. "And immediately after fixing the fact of deployment, the Armenian Armed Forces took the necessary measures to take control of the Azerbaijani units, as a result of which the movement of Azerbaijani military is fully controlled by the Armenian forces, and any attempt to advance will lead to retaliation," the statement says.
The Defense Ministry urged to refrain from spreading information that "damages the authority of the army and causes unwarranted tension in the society."
Khachik Baghdasaryan, the village headman, also confirmed to the newspaper Pastinfo the fact of appearance of the new post in front of the village. However, he said he did not know who the post belonged to.
Earlier Sputnik Armenia found out that Azerbaijani units had infiltrated into the Armenian territory much to the south, near the height called "Vardasar". The Defense Ministry at first denied this fact, but later at the request of Sputnik Armenia confirmed the advance, stating that it took place a year ago. The publication was told that the enemy positions were established in May-June 2021.