BAKU, September 14. /TASS/. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has called Armenia's attempts to conceal the build-up of its forces in the region a serious potential threat.

"Armenia's attempts to hide the build-up of forces in the region and divert attention from the provocations it can commit at any moment is a serious source of threat," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said in a commentary in response to a statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry dated September 13. In the latter, Yerevan reiterated its invitation to Baku to carry out an equitable pullback of troops from the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan based on the 1975 maps of the USSR Armed Forces General Staff. It also claimed that the Azerbaijani side was building up troops and heavy equipment along the border and the line of engagement with Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The main condition for peace and stability in the region is Armenia's renunciation, in word and deed, of its claims against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, withdrawal of all Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijani territory, and cessation of revanchist policies and actions," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed.

Baku and Yerevan have been embroiled in a sovereignty dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988. In September 2020, a spate of renewed hostilities broke out in the region. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the complete cessation of hostilities. Russian peacekeepers were brought into the region to ensure the operation of humanitarian corridors. On May 17, 2023, at the Council of Europe’s summit in Reykjavik, Pashinyan said that Yerevan recognized the sovereignty of Azerbaijan within its borders, which included Nagorno-Karabakh.