By Trend
Armenia is creating border incidents [on border with Azerbaijan] to evade fulfilling obligations which it took over and signed in November 2020 [within trilateral statement made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia to end the second Karabakh war in 2020], and in January 2021, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko told Trend.
“Armenia cannot say: “We won’t fulfill them.” Everyone would obstruct Armenia [in this case]. So it arranges an armed provocation, accuse Azerbaijan of this and, on this basis, refuses to determine the exact line of borders, and to move forward on the implementation of the trilateral statement,” Korotchenko noted. “This is a tactic necessary not to fulfill the obligations that Armenia has officially taken on.”
He also noted that the leadership of Azerbaijan offers Armenia to sign a peace treaty, which would establish the normalization of relations between the two countries, and the territorial integrity would be mutually recognized.
According to the expert, it’s extremely important to put a political end to this long-standing, bloody and difficult conflict.
"Azerbaijan is aimed at constructive development of the situation in the region, which requires a peace treaty with Armenia. Of course, the peace treaty implies the earliest possible process of delimitation and demarcation of the border,” he further said. “Armenia doesn’t want this, because it still has territorial claims to that part of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, where Russian peacekeepers are today, despite the results of the second Karabakh war, which turned out to be fatally unsuccessful for Armenia.”
According to him, Armenia is trying again to arrange some kind of border clashes with Azerbaijan, and then again appeal to the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] and Russia for help, pretending to be a victim of aggression, and if this doesn’t work out, then it plans to involve the European Union in this process, especially, France.
The expert noted that Armenia hasn’t rejected of revanchism, of territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and demonstrates this by increasing military tension.
"The shelling cannot be accidental. This is a deliberate, purposeful policy. Today Armenia is unable to wage a full-scale war against Azerbaijan. Therefore, the tactics of such small armed provocations are chosen, in which Armenia further blames Azerbaijan,” Korotchenko said. “This can turn into an unpredictable escalation of events. The main danger of the provocations consists of possible internationalization of the conflict, an attempt to involve France. Foreign bases and foreign troops cannot be deployed on the territory of the CSTO countries without the consent of the other members of the organization.”
The expert noted that now the region needs peace and tranquility, and these military provocations won’t bring the desirable result.
"The economy of Armenia is in a very bad condition, the recession is going on, and the financial system is destroyed. It’s important for Armenia now to fulfill the trilateral statement, especially regarding the opening of transport corridors. This will help to normalize its economy," he concluded.
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