Artsakh’s defense minister visits military positions

Starting from mid-April 21 the tension in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact was maintained also overnight April 22, the Defense Army of Artsakh reported.

In order to assess the operative situation, Defense Minister of Artsakh, Defense Army Commander, Lieutenant-General Levon Mnatsakanyan on April 22 visited the military positions located in the eastern direction of the Army, got acquainted with the situation in the frontline, checked the combat preparedness level of the troops and gave a number of instructions for further actions.

Levon Mnatsakanyan said despite today the situation is tense, it is under full control of the Defense Army and all necessary measures are being taken to prevent the provocations of the Azerbaijani side.

“Some change has been noticed in terms of movement of troops. If previously there wasn’t such a movement, and the existing ones were mainly linked with issues on ensuring subdivisions involved in the combat duty, now there are movements of different nature, more of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Moreover, the movements are at different directions, rather than one. We follow their actions and will do everything in case of necessity. They again hold military drills since early April, this is linked with some occasions”, Levon Mnatsakanyan said.

Commenting on the reason of such activeness of the Azerbaijani side, the Defense Army commander stated: “I would consider that this activeness is linked with the inner-political situation in Armenia. I would call those who provoke such disorders to draw conclusion, to know that we have an ultimate task – that is the legal establishment of independence of the Artsakh Republic, and we all must direct our efforts for this purpose, rather than present opinions of some narrow groups as a reality”.

Earlier on April 22 the defense ministry of Artsakh has released footage showing Azerbaijani manpower and military equipment movements and accumulations in the line of contact.