YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan knows very well that Russia may encourage its encroachments upon Armenia, opposition Heritage Party Board Secretary, analyst  Stiopa Safaryan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Safaryan stated the aforesaid in connection with the shots that were fired Thursday at a military base in the Armenian-Azerbaijani border zone, and the ensuing death of two Armenian conscripts.

“It seemed we [Armenia] will soon become a member in the Eurasian Economic Union. But the situation has changed after the [recent] Astana Conference. Azerbaijan knows that it may put some pressure on Armenia, and Russia is not against it.  

“Second, with such steps, Azerbaijan is attempting to work against the OSCE Minsk Group, and their [Azerbaijan’s and Russia’s] interests coincide here, too.

“And, in the end, there is Turkey’s influence, too,” he said, in particular.

The analyst also argued that, with these steps, Azerbaijan implies that it does not rule out the possibility of changing the status quo by military means. And not to appear in this situation, as per Safaryan, Armenia should have taken steps years ago.

“We [Armenia] should have stopped the arms race at the time. We should have raised this issue within international organizations. We should have been more consistent in the investigation of the incidents.

“But Armenia works very poorly. Our diplomacy does not voice an appropriate response. We need to keep Azerbaijan under constant tension within international tribunals,” Heritage’s official also noted, in particular.

Two Armenian conscripts—Andranik Yeghoyan, 26, and Boris Gasparyan, 22—had died as a result of the aforementioned incident on Thursday.