YEREVAN. – How did it become possible for Azerbaijani servicemen to cross the border? Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan asked this question at the beginning of Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the interim government of Armenia, and gave his take on the matter.

"First of all, let me say that after the [Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war [last fall], our border has extended by several hundred kilometers. In the areas where we have work, these are mountainous areas with difficult terrain where it is under snow most of the year and where no engineering work is possible. What is the border situation in those parts today? It is in exactly the same situation from the Azerbaijani side.

There is another problem here that we have to compare the current situation with the November 9 statement because, yes, in our estimation, the movement of Azerbaijani troops is in direct opposition to the November 9 statement. Here, too, we must express certain positions and carry out diplomatic work to record this," he said.

Pashinyan spoke also about why Armenia applied to the CSTO without carrying out armed resistance first to resolve this matter. "All those who have read at least a few paragraphs of the CSTO treaties will know that the CSTO is for overcoming crisis situations without firing. (…). If shooting starts within the CSTO, it can most likely turn into a major regional war, if not a larger-scale war in the event of some scenarios.

In this regard, it is very important to understand what the goal of the Azerbaijani side was. One of the options was to provoke a war. And we must focus our attention on the fact that this action, at least in Syunik Province, is carried out along the narrowest part of Syunik Province and the territory of the Republic of Armenia, which is about 26km wide. If the situation would get out of control, uncontrollable situations could develop there, which could then lead to very big problems.

We [Armenia] have decided that we must resolve the issue through our international security mechanisms; I consider this correct, which at the moment justifies itself, although we still cannot say that we have achieved our goal that way.

Observing the internal processes of the Republic of Armenia, it cannot be ruled out that the purpose of this action [by Azerbaijan] is to influence the internal political processes, the [forthcoming snap parliamentary] election results of the Republic of Armenia, and perhaps also to provide political support to the propaganda, agent network operating in the Republic of Armenia," Nikol Pashinyan emphasized.