The resumption of a full-scale Armenian-Azerbaijani war remains unlikely despite one of the most serious violations of the 1994 ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh registered in recent days, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian insisted on Monday.
“The situation on the frontline is tense,” Ohanian told reporters in Yerevan. “At any moment our neighbor may undoubtedly organize provocations that could lead to war. But the president and military-political leadership of the country are doing everything to calm things down.”
“The analysis of [the events of] the last few days shows that, broadly speaking, there is still no basis for a large-scale war,” he said.
Ohanian made clear that the authorities in Armenia and Karabakh will not put their armed forces on a higher state of alert or call up reservists to deal with the escalation of tensions on the frontlines. He confirmed, though, reports that scores of Armenian veterans of the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan are joining active duty soldiers deployed along “the line of contact” around Karabakh and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. But he insisted that the veterans are only “buoying” the frontline troops and sharing their combat experience with the latter.
Bakudaily.az
