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Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict: Has Armenia Requested ‘CSTO Intervention’ Over Border Tensions With Azerbaijan

Armenia has sent an official request to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) regarding the situation in the southern Syunik region at the border with Azerbaijan, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan said on Friday.

Earlier in the day, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zaynetdinov told Sputnik that the organization had not yet received any official documents but was in contact with Armenian officials.

“The request has been sent officially to the CSTO, it has to be considered within three days,” Deputy Prime Minister Avinyan told reporters.

Earlier, CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Zas discussed the recent developments on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border with Armenia’s acting Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zaynetdinov told Sputnik on Friday.

Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin on his order to seek CSTO consultations in light of Azerbaijan’s provocations in the border province of Syunik.

Armenia-Russia Discuss Border Conflict

Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev discussed on Friday the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, with Grigoryan qualifying Baku’s steps as an infringement on Armenia’s territorial integrity, the Armenian Security Council said.

On Thursday, the Armenian Defense Ministry claimed that the Azerbaijani armed forces carried out provocative actions in the Syunik region.

“Grigoryan stressed that Armenia sees the situation as Azerbaijan’s infringement on Armenia’s sovereign territory, which the Armenian side finds unacceptable, therefore the Azerbaijani armed units must leave the territories and return to their starting position,” the Armenian Security Council said in a statement, seen by Sputnik.

According to the security council, Patrushev “highly appreciated the Armenian side’s restraint, pointing to the importance of using all the possible diplomatic effort.” “He added that the Russian side is engaged in an intensive effort at all levels to urgently solve the problem,” the statement read on.

Azerbaijani Troops In Armenia’s Syunik Province

The situation on the border with Azerbaijan in Armenia’s Syunik province has not changed with the Azerbaijani army remain stationed there, despite firm demands by Yerevan for their withdrawal, a source in the Armenian Defense Ministry told Sputnik on Friday.

On Thursday, the Armenian Defense Ministry claimed that the Azerbaijani armed forces attempted to move their posts near two towns in the country’s south and carried out other provocative actions.

Armenian Acting Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian discussed the situation with Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, and Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pasninyan set out to launch consultations in the Collective Security Treaty Organization regarding the matter.

“At the moment, there are no changes, we told the Azerbaijani side that this is Armenian territory and we will not move an inch. We got the impression that they are waiting for an order from the higher command,” the source said.

The Syunik region is wedged between Azerbaijan’s mainland to the east and the Nakhchivan autonomous republic, an Azeri enclave, to the west.

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