Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of troop build-up on border

Azerbaijan accused Armenia on Monday of building up troops along the border between the two countries to carry out military acts of provocation, a claim dismissed by Yerevan as disinformation.

Tensions between the two sides have escalated in recent days, after Armenia accused Azerbaijan of blockading Armenians living in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh and urged the UN to intervene.

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“In recent days there has been a large concentration of weapons, military equipment and personnel along the state border in order to carry out another military adventure,” Baku’s foreign ministry said.

It said Yerevan had also built up military infrastructure within Nagorno-Karabakh, where Russian peacekeepers have been based since 2020, and accused Armenia of undermining peace efforts by appealing to the UN.

“Azerbaijan reserves the right to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity by all legitimate means provided for by the UN Charter and other universal instruments of international law,” it said.

Yerevan denied that it had amassed weapons and troops near the border or in Nagorno-Karabakh and said Azerbaijan’s statement did “not correspond to reality.”

The Caucasus neighbors have been locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh — internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan — since the 1980s and fought two wars over the territory.

For months, Yerevan has accused Baku of blocking traffic through the Lachin corridor — a short, mountainous road linking Armenia to Armenian-populated settlements in the territory.

The two countries have been unable to reach a lasting peace settlement despite mediation efforts by the European Union, United States and Russia.

Armenia and international aid groups have warned that the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is dire and deteriorating, with shortages of food, medicines and energy.

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