Landmines Were Planted by Azerbaijanis in Due Time: Artak Beglaryan

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense reports that three of its soldiers were injured by a landmine explosion in the occupied area of the Shushi region of the Republic of Artsakh, unjustly accusing the Armenian side of deliberate provocation.

This was stated by Artak Beglaryan, an advisor to the government of Artsakh, on his Facebook page, where he made several observations regarding the issue.

Beglaryan wrote: “1. Since this area is under Azerbaijani control, it is illogical to claim that these are fresh and deliberately planted landmines. Given the surveillance systems available to the Azerbaijanis, how is it possible for them to plant fresh mines behind their own lines? 2. There have been battles in this area during both the 1990s and the 2020 wars, and it is impossible to determine who laid the mines there. Moreover, when that territory was under our control, one of our shepherds also detonated a mine there. Therefore, I do not exclude the possibility that these were landmines that had been planted in the past by Azerbaijanis. 3. Since Azerbaijan has never collaborated with Artsakh and Armenia and has not provided any maps of minefields, as well as consistently obstructing international mine-clearing efforts in Artsakh, we have been unable to sufficiently clear many areas in a timely manner, including this one. 4. What connection does the Republic of Armenia have if this is deep within Artsakh’s territory, and all the routes are blocked by Azerbaijan, meaning that any entry from Armenia has been excluded for months? 5. Azerbaijani accusations and claims suggest that they are trying to create additional pretexts for new provocations and aggressions, whereas the Artsakh side maintains the ceasefire regime and is always ready to discuss and resolve all mutual concerns, including the lifting of the blockade and the issue of mutual demining.”