ArmInfo.Information that Azerbaijan had officially notified the Russian Federationthe start of military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh was strange for Yerevan.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated today during a Facebook live broadcast, adding that "this is Azerbaijan's version," but he wants to pay attention to it. "The fact is that Yerevan did not receive any information from its Russian partners," the prime minister said.
Earlier, today Baku began full-scale military operations against the Republic of Artsakh. The capital Stepanakert and other cities and villages are under intense shelling. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced the start of "local anti-terrorism measures." "The command of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation and the leadership of the Turkish-Russian Monitoring Center were informed about the ongoing activities," the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Pashinyan noted that on September 19, at around 1:00 p.m., Azerbaijan began shelling the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. After some time, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces started operations to break the Nagorno-Karabakh contact line and take control of a number of positions and settlements.
"We, of course, are in contact with Nagorno-Karabakh, but there are certain problems with communication. But, in general, the information is as follows: at the beginning, active artillery strikes were carried out by a variety of rocket weapons on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, and then they began ground operations in different directions," Pashinyan said. Baku provides "information support" in the process," he indicated. According to him, the outbreak of hostilities was not unexpected. Earlier, at government meetings, the head of the cabinet repeatedly spoke about the increase in tension. This was also mentioned in today's statement by the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs that "the theses voiced by the Azerbaijani side during a meeting with representatives of the diplomatic corps at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on September 18 are similar to diplomatic preparations for a new military escalation in the region, the beginning of specific actions aimed at carrying out ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh".
The Prime Minister emphasized that he immediately convened an expanded meeting of the Security Council, with the participation of the President, the Speaker of Parliament and other responsible persons. It was recorded that in this way Baku launched a ground operation to ethnically cleanse the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. In his opinion, firstly, RPC must take immediate measures. Measures are also expected from the UN Security Council, he noted.
"There are already comments where attempts are made to connect what is happening with one or another decision of the Republic of Armenia. But I want to repeat what I have stated more than once: the Republic of Armenia did not give anyone a mandate to carry out ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Our task remains to ensure the rights and security of the Armenians of Karabakh; this has always been and remains on our agenda," the prime minister said.
Pashinyan considers Baku's statement that the civilian population will be provided with a humanitarian corridor to leave, strange.
This directly indicates the beginning of concrete actions of ethnic cleansing, the head of the RA Cabinet emphasized.
"If they claim that they are carrying out a so-called "anti-terrorist operation" and there are no attacks on civilian targets, then why do they also claim a humanitarian corridor for the population to leave Nagorno- Karabakh? If what they say had anything to do with reality, they would have urged citizens to stay in shelters and not go to places where there is shelling. The logic that Azerbaijan is developing clearly points to the beginning of concrete actions for ethnic cleansing," the prime minister said.