Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh risk escalation in 2016 due to Baku’s “sustained military buildup coupled with declining economic conditions in Azerbaijan,” U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on February 9.
“Baku is in full military buildup while the deteriorating economic conditions in Azerbaijan raise the possibility that the conflict escalates in 2016,” warned Clapper.
“Azerbaijan’s aversion to publicly relinquishing its claim to Nagorno-Karabakh proper and Armenia’s reluctance to give up territory it controls will continue to complicate a peaceful resolution,” he said.