National Security Service of Armenia assures: Russian border guards  do not interfere with EUMA activities on any section of  Armenian-Azerbaijani border

ArmInfo. The National Security Service of Armenia, unlike the Secretary of the Security  Council, claims that Russian border guards do not interfere with the activities of the EU monitoring mission (EUMA) on any section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.  As the RFE/RL's Armenian Service  reports, they asked the NSS whether the EU observation mission has access to the border areas where Russian border guards are currently deployed.

"There are no obstacles for the observation activities of the  representatives of the EU observation mission in the areas of the  Armenian-Azerbaijani border guarded by the border guard troops of the  National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia," the NSS noted.

After the latest border tension, when as a result of Azerbaijani  shelling in Nerkin Hand four people were killed and one was injured  from the Armenian side,  Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia  Armen Grigoryan said that the EU civilian mission did not have access  to this area, but Russia does, which could not prevent this incident.  He also added that the Russian side did not allow EUMA to enter this  area where the provocation occurred. The same was stated by the head  of the EU mission, Markus Ritter.

When asked on what basis and with what mandate Russian troops are  deployed on the road leading to the village, the NSS noted that  Russian border guards are not deployed for a specific period of time.   "The purpose of deploying Russian border guards on the  Armenian-Azerbaijani (conditional) border is to monitor and implement  measures aimed at resolving possible conflicts peacefully," the  department noted.

On the morning of February 13, the Armenian Ministry of Defense  reported that the Azerbaijani military opened fire on Armenian  positions on the border in the Nerkin Hand section in Syunik Region,  killing 4 Armenian servicemen and wounding another one, the. Later it  became known that all the dead were members of the Yerkrapah  volunteer union.

Azerbaijan not only does not deny the fact of aggression, but also  cynically stated that they carried out a 'revenge operation' in  response to a "provocation" by the Armenian military, when an  Azerbaijani border guard was allegedly wounded. At the same time,  they added that as a result of these actions, the Armenian combat  post was destroyed. It is noteworthy that all this is happening in  the territories of Armenia, which were previously captured by the  enemy side against the background of the international community's  tacit encouragement of Azerbaijani aggression.