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Recent events in Armenia signify Baku’s infringement on its territory - Pashinyan

On Wednesday, Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported that early in the morning Azerbaijani forces had attempted to conduct "certain work" in an area bordering the Syunik region to "adjust the border"

YEREVAN, May 13. /TASS/. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan called the events that took place in Syunik region on Wednesday an infringement on the territory of Armenia, he said in a statement at a meeting of the country's Security Council.

"This morning, the Azerbaijani armed forces crossed the state border of Armenia, going 3.5 km deep virtually trying to surround Lake Sevlich. The actions of the Azerbaijani side in the area of the lake are unacceptable, this is an infringement on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia," the government press service quoted Pashinyan.

On Wednesday, Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported that early in the morning Azerbaijani forces had attempted to conduct "certain work" in an area bordering the Syunik region to "adjust the border." The ministry said that after the Armenian detachments had taken action, Azerbaijani troops stopped the work.

After the fighting had ceased in Nagorno-Karabakh last autumn, Armenian forces turned over control of seven districts adjacent to the region to Baku, so the Armenian-Azerbaijani border now lies along the Syunik region.

The highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been disputed by Baku and Yerevan since February 1988 when the region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. Under the statement, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintain the positions that they have held and then Armenian forces turn over control of certain districts to Azerbaijan. In addition, Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the contact line and to the Lachin corridor, which links Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

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