YEREVAN, May 26. /TASS/. The incursion of Azerbaijani armed forces into the territory of Armenia, in the vicinity of the Syunik Region in the south of the country, was in pursuit of instigating a military conflict and paving a corridor to Nakhichevan, Armenia's Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday. 

"I believe that Azerbaijan pursued the aim of instigating a military conflict and… with the use of their forces attempted to establish a corridor from the residential area of Sevlich [in the Syunik Region of Armenia] to Bichenek [Nakhichevan]," Pashinyan said, addressing a session of the Armenian Parliament today.

"This particular area is 26-kilometers wide and stretches across Armenian territory," Pashinyan added.

Earlier this week, the Defense Ministry of Armenia reported that an Armenian serviceman was fatally wounded in a shootout in the Gegharkunik region on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Armenia's defense ministry said on May 12 that Azerbaijani armed forces had tried to carry out "certain activities" in the border area in Syunik Province in a bid to "adjust the border." Following retaliatory measures, the Azerbaijani side stopped its activities and agreed to hold talks to settle the situation.

Later on the same day, Pashinyan called a meeting of the country's Security Council, where he described the situation as an infringement of Armenia's territory. He said Azerbaijani troops had crossed Armenia's state border and moved 3.5 kilometers deep into its territory.

The sides have had several rounds of talks to settle the situation, with the latest one being held on May 16 and mediated by Russia.

Nagorho-Karabakh clashes

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.

According to the document, the Azeri and Armenian forces stopped at the positions that they had maintained, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin Corridor that connects Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.