CSTO slams Azerbaijan over Karabakh conflict escalation

PanARMENIAN.Net - The head of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) accused Azerbaijan on Saturday, April 2 of escalating the situation in Nagorno Karabakh, a spokesperson for the CSTO Secretary-General said, Russian media report.

“Everything must be settled through negotiations,” Vladimir Zaynetdinov said. “The Azerbaijani side’s actions lead to an escalation of the conflict.”

According to Zaynetdinov, the Armenian Defense Ministry is providing the CSTO leadership with full information about the clashes along the Karabakh line of contact.

“We believe there is no military solution to the conflict,” he said.

On the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh, using artillery, armored fighting vehicles and air force equipment among other weapons.

Aside from the battles on the frontline, the rival has also carried out artillery strikes on civilian settlements and places of permanent deployment of several military units.

On April 2, at around 8:30 am, the rival used BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher in the Martuni direction of the contact line. 12-year-old Vaghinak Grigoryan was killed in the shelling, two more children were wounded.

Earleir, the Nagorno Karabakh special forces identified an Azerbaijani subversive group near the Levonarkh settlement and threw the saboteurs back to their positions.

According to Armenia’s Defense Ministry, the rival troops retreated after suffering several human losses.

Read also:Azerbaijan used Grad rocket launcher to bomb Karabakh school: hospital