YEREVAN, May 13. /TASS/. Azerbaijani troops made an attempt to advance in the Sisian and Vardenis border areas (the Syunik and Gegargunik regions) in addition to the Sev Lich border section, Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.
"On May 13, the Azerbaijani armed forces staged another provocation against the sovereign territory of Armenia, citing the ‘border adjustment’ again, attempting to advance their positions in the border areas of Vardenis and Sisian. In both cases, the advance was halted by the Armenian armed forces and a demand was issued to the Azerbaijani side to immediately leave the territory and return to the initial positions," the statement says.
The Armenian Defense Ministry qualifies these actions "as an outright provocation," the statement says.
On Wednesday, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported that early in the morning the Azerbaijani forces attempted to carry out "certain activities" in one of the Syunik border region’s districts to "adjust the border." The ministry added that the Azerbaijani troops halted their activities following some steps taken by Armenian forces and negotiations to resolve the situation were underway.
In the evening of the same day, acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting of the republic's Security Council, during which he slammed these events as an encroachment on Armenia’s territory. According to Pashinyan, the Azerbaijani forces crossed Armenia’s border, moving 3.5 kilometers into the country.
Last autumn, after the end of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict area, some seven regions surrounding the area came under Baku's control. Thus, the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was moved close to the Syunik region.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 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 document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintained the positions that they had held, some districts passed over to Baku’s control and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line and the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh.