From the tactical point of view, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces are trying to make border adjustments and establish positions on the border between the territories of the former NKAO and the territories taken under their control, the former Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan told NEWS.am.
According to him, Azerbaijanis want to bring Artsakh into a deeper and more comprehensive encirclement.
"The further Artsakh's enclave situation worsens, the easier it will be for Turkey and Azerbaijan to exert pressure and realize their long-term goals, which are to expel Armenians from Artsakh, to put pressure on the people of Artsakh.
And the strategic goal is to continue to put pressure on Armenia, to squeeze it even harder and open the roads through it, or as they call it to unblock the roads through Syunik. This will result in us also being under economic and geographic pressure. Besides, there will be attempts to change the demographic picture in Syunik and other parts of Armenia," he said.
Ohanyan expressed confidence that this is the result of Armenia-Russia, Armenia-Artsakh and Russian Defense Army-Artsakh peacekeepers cooperation not being on the same level as it should be. If Azerbaijan goes for such provocations, then it is so.
"Otherwise, the strategic points and heights that need to be occupied to ensure the security of the people of Artsakh would have been clarified. Despite the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh, the Defense Army has better information about the geographical peculiarities of Artsakh and should have taken all steps to ensure that all important heights were occupied and not under pressure from Azerbaijan.
Armenia and Artsakh, on the basis of mutual cooperation, should have strengthened the Armenian Armed Forces, supported the Artsakh Defense Army to restore combat readiness, drawn the borders of Armenia in our interests, and organized defense. Obviously, the Armenian authorities didn't think about all that. They don't realize that they have to work hard day and night on these directions, whereas their aim is just to inflate the number of police forces to keep their seats. This is unacceptable," said the head of the faction.
On August 1, starting from 09:00 in some areas of the northern and north-western border zone of the Republic of Artsakh the Azerbaijani units made an attempt to cross the line of contact and were stopped by the Defense Army.
As a result of the provocations by the Azerbaijani units a serviceman of the Army of Artsakh Albert Bakhshyan was wounded.
Detailed information about the incident was provided to the command of Russian peacekeeping forces.
