The situation on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan

1 Azerbaijan — Armenia

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry stated that on 1st of June, at 20:00, 40 Armenian servicemen entered the territory of Azerbaijan, and tried to gain a foothold in the Kelbajar region. «As a result of the actions of the Azerbaijani army, the Armenian military were expelled from the territory of the country» — the ministry reported. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry stated that «no weapons were used during the expulsion of the Armenian servicemen». The ministry called the incident «an another provocation», and blamed Armenia. The Armenian Defense Ministry stated that the message from the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry was a fake news, made «to impress the international community».

2 Armenia

The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Azerbaijan must pull their troops from Armenia. He added that Yerevan expects Russia, as a strategic ally, to clearly formulate such a position. «The Armenian position is clear. Azerbaijan must retreat. Armenia expects Russia to clearly formulate such position as well» — the ’Armenpress’ quoted his words. Nikol Pashinyan also stated that there are border maps, «certified by the seals of the Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. The maps are identical to the maps in the archives of Russia. Once this fact is confirmed — Azerbaijan must move away from these lines».

3 Russia

The Russian Federal Council unanimously approved the law that denounces the ’Open Skies Treaty’. According to the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, Russia made every effort and exhausted all resources to keep Washington in the Treaty. He noted that the USA left no doubt that Washington wasn’t going to return to the Treaty.

4 Russia — The NATO

The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, announced that the NATO, under the cover of the ’Sea Breeze — 2021’ exercises, will supply Ukraine with modern weapons and ammo. «In the future, as in previous years, all of this will be directed to the Ukrainian troops and nationalist groups, stationed near non-Kiev-controlled areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions» — the TASS quoted his words. Konashenkov added that the Russian Ministry of Defense will monitor the preparations and the process of the NATO exercises ’’Sea Breaze». The ministry will respond in the interests of the Russian security.

5 The NATO

The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the NATO countries are considering the possibility of introducing additional sanctions against Belarus in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair airplane in Minsk. “The most important thing is to ensure that the sanctions are agreed upon, and fully applied” — Stoltenberg told to the BBC. Stoltenberg added that the NATO «agreed on a very tough statement» against Belarus. Some NATO states are ready to make even more sanctions.

6 Belarus

The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Belarus stated that Belarus intends to make an appeal to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization «in order to assess the legality of the actions of Ukraine and other states that one-sidedly established bans and restrictions on the use of their airspace against Belarusian airlines, in violation of the international obligations». The ministry added that Minsk has questions about the objectivity of the qualifications of a number of states, including Ukraine, on the situation with the ’’Ryanair’’ flight that took place on 23rd of May, 2021. It was underlined that these countries were silent when an airplane of the same company was urgently landed in Berlin due to a bomb report only a week ago. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS