Baku was not allowed to use Russian ammo in Karabakh: expert

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan was obviously the one to violate the ceasefire, uninterested in maintaining the status quo, the director of the Institute of CIS Countries said.

Commenting on Russia's weapons sale to Azerbaijan, Konstantin Zatulin noted that many countries sell ammunitions worldwide.

“If I’m not mistaken, Azerbaijan buys weapons not only from Russia, but also from Turkey and Israel,” he said. “The Russian ammunition was supplied to Armenia and Azerbaijan on the understanding that it won’t be used in the Karabakh conflict zone.”

According to Zatulin, it is obvious that Azerbaijan initiated the attacks, thus violating the 1994 ceasefire. “Both Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh sought to maintain the status quo, having achieved all they wanted back in 1994. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, is not satisfied with the status quo, unwilling to tolerate it for long. Baku has even threatened to resolve the conflict by force,” Zatulin said.

“As for those territories, there are multiple historical records which I am not going to delve into. My belief is that the Karabakh conflict can’t be settled by force as the only way Azerbaijan can succeed is theough a blitzkrieg. It is clear, however, that Baku will never manage to pull one off.

The parties to the Karabakh conflict agreed on a bilateral ceasefire along the contact line which came into force at midday, April 5.

Prior to that, 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.

As many as 33 Karabakh servicemen were killed and 121 were wounded in the course of military operations. 25 Karabakh soldiers have gone missing so far.

As of April 5, the Azerbaijani side has lost 26 tanks and 4 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as 1 BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, 1 engineering vehicle, 2 military helicopters and 11 unmanned aerial vehicles. The Azerbaijani side has admitted the loss of 31 fighters, 1 helicopter and 1 unmanned drones, whereas the Armenian side's photo and video materials show dozens of killed Azerbaijani troops, 1 helicopter and 3 UAVs.

14 Karabakh tanks have been neutralized since April 2.