Baku has responded to the statement of the Russian Ministry of Defense, expressing regret that it is “one-sided and does not correspond to reality.”
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense states that the head of the Ministry of Defense, Zakir Hasanov, had said during a telephone conversation the previous day with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that positions and deployment locations were being clarified, and that in the morning the Armenian side had attempted an incursion against units of the Azerbaijani army.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Defense had emphasized that “the armed forces of Azerbaijan, violating the provisions of the trilateral statement, entered the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping mission and deployed an observation post,” calling on the Azerbaijani side to withdraw its troops.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense insists that Baku remains committed to the statement of November 10, 2020, according to point 4 of which “the complete withdrawal of the remnants of the Armenian army and Armenian illegal armed formations from the territory of Azerbaijan has not yet been carried out,” therefore it is Armenia that is violating the provisions of the statement.
Baku insists that the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation contradicts the essence of bilateral relations and the provisions of the Declaration on Allied Cooperation signed between Russia and Azerbaijan on February 22 of this year.
Azerbaijan’s military department declares that there is no administrative-territorial unit named Nagorno-Karabakh on its territory, and calls on the Russian Ministry of Defense to “ensure the complete withdrawal of the remnants of the Armenian army and Armenian illegal armed groups from the territory of Azerbaijan,” as well as not to use the name Nagorno-Karabakh.
