Enemy Occupies at Least 3200 Hectares of RA Sovereign Territory in Vardenis Region: Hetq

The Republic of Artsakh, whose security guarantor was Armenia on paper and in reality during the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his team, lost the entire Hadrut region and partially lost the Shushi, Askeran, Martuni, and Martakert regions, including the cities of Shushi and Hadrut, during the 44-day war in 2020. According to the November 9 agreement, Pashinyan handed over territories adjacent to the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (Artsakh) to Azerbaijan (Aghdam, Kelbajar, Lachin), in addition to regions captured by the enemy during the war, including Fizuli and Jabrail, as well as most of Zangelan and Qubadli, while some small areas were retreated by Armenian forces in December 2020 under a verbal agreement. These territories had been liberated in the 1990s and became part of the Republic of Artsakh.

This is reported by hetq.am. The news outlet notes that on May 12, 2021, taking advantage of the concessions made by the government led by Pashinyan, which had suffered defeat in the 44-day war, Azerbaijani armed groups captured several strategic heights in the sovereign territory of RA located in the Syunik and Gegharkunik regions without firing a shot, using threats of weapons, physical force, and insults to drive away Armenian border guards from poorly equipped combat positions.

Only in the Vardenis region of Gegharkunik, specifically in the border area from Norabak to the Karvachar road and extending to the Large and Small Al lakes, the enemy occupied at least 32 square kilometers of RA sovereign territory in May 2021, which is equivalent to 3200 hectares. This area is equivalent to 4482 football fields, such as the ones owned by Yerevan’s “Hrazdan” and “Republican” stadiums.

Using American company Google’s maps, whose satellite images are taken from European Airbus and American Maxar Technologies satellites, Hetq measured the territory of the RA occupied by the enemy in the spring of 2021.