As of 13:00, Azerbaijani armed forces have launched military operations and attempted to escalate the situation along the entire eastern direction of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. This was announced by the Secretary of Armenia’s Security Council, Armen Grigoryan.
“At this moment, military operations are ongoing. The Ministry of Defense is taking steps to stabilize the situation,” said Grigoryan.
According to him, today’s escalation is also linked to Azerbaijan’s use of additional armored vehicles and armed forces: “They have tried to use Azerbaijani armed forces located on Armenia’s sovereign territory. Since the attack was on Armenia’s sovereign territory, we are appealing to the Russian Federation with a call to protect Armenia’s territorial integrity within the framework of the 1997 treaty existing between the RA and the RF, and within the logic of implementing mutual obligations under the agreement,” said Armen Grigoryan.
According to the Security Council Secretary, this is a verbal appeal that will have a written procedure: “We expect that the Russian Federation will provide assistance and we will have the opportunity to restore Armenia’s territorial integrity,” said the Security Council Secretary.
“It has been said many times that the RA state border constitutes a red line for the RF, and since May 12 the Azerbaijanis have crossed that red line. In this regard, we are appealing to our ally so that we can restore the RA’s territorial integrity within the framework of our allied obligations,” he said.
In response to a question as to whether that assistance would imply involvement in negotiations or assistance with armed forces, the Security Council Secretary replied: “If it is possible to resolve this situation through negotiations, then resolve it through negotiations, and if it is not possible, then provide Armenia with sufficient military assistance so that Armenia can resolve the situation that has arisen.”
As for the CSTO, Armen Grigoryan said: “In this direction as well, we are carrying out preparatory work. Of course, we had appealed to the CSTO regarding the situation created on May 12 to resolve the crisis. Sufficient efforts have not been made to resolve the issue, but we will continue to work. Since the CSTO presidency is currently held by Armenia, that is, Armenia is the CSTO president, we will take additional steps to also activate our steps within the CSTO framework. The CSTO treaty provides for the toolkit that makes it possible to take steps in the event of any encroachment on the territorial integrity of any member country.”
