Azerbaijan concentrates forces on border with Armenia, near Nagorno-Karabakh: PM

“In the past week, the military-political situation in our region has deteriorated. This is because, in the past few days, Azerbaijan has been amassing troops along the line of engagement in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Anti-Armenian rhetoric and hate speech have intensified in the Azerbaijani press and on propaganda platforms,” the Armenian premier said.

Pashinyan urged the international community and UN Security Council member countries to take serious steps to prevent another explosion of tensions in the region.

“Armenia is ready and willing to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan and we reiterate our commitment to the global agenda on the basis of agreements [signed] in Brussels and Prague as well as the tripartite agreement (between the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia),” he added.

Russia announced on Thursday it was working with both Armenia and Azerbaijan in its role as a security guarantor in the south Caucasus.

Moscow has maintained peacekeepers in the region since a 2020 war in which Azerbaijan seized back significant amounts of territory it had lost to Armenian forces in the 1990s after the break-up of the Soviet Union.