Today, Saturday, the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, Zakir Hasanov, called for taking proactive measures against any potential threats from Armenia within the Azerbaijani lands, and to respond in kind if necessary.
During a consultative meeting in the presence of his deputies and formation leaders from the Azeri army, Hasanov talked about Yerevan once again transferring weapons and soldiers to Armenian armed units - which he described as illegal - remaining in a part of Azeri territory where Russian peacekeeping forces are temporarily deployed.
He stressed the continuation of monitoring the movements of these units, as well as the Armenian forces.
The Azeri minister's statements come a week after Baku announced a clash with Armenian forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
At the time, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said that the clash resulted in the death of two of its soldiers, while Yerevan confirmed the death of 3 Armenian policemen.
According to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense, the recent clash erupted after its forces tried to prevent the transfer of military equipment, ammunition and personnel from Armenia to Azerbaijani lands in an area in the Nagorno-Karabakh region where Russian peace forces are temporarily deployed and Armenians live.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war to control Karabakh at the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, which resulted in 30,000 deaths, and the war ended with Armenia's victory.
Another conflict broke out in the fall of 2020 and lasted 44 days, killing 6,500 people, and allowing Baku to recover large areas of land, and Russian peacekeepers deployed after reaching a ceasefire agreement mediated by Moscow that ended this war, but the tension is still high, at a time when No progress in the negotiations on signing a peace treaty.