There are border tensions, and it is created by the Azerbaijani side. This is what acting Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Avinyan told reporters today.

“It is very important to record that when Armenia tries to seek others to blame, it leads the country in the wrong direction. The Azerbaijani side is the one that is frequently creating tensions on the border. It is very important for us to accept and understand this and convince our international partners. There need to be symmetric responses to the border tension, but as restrained as possible. We also need to understand that maintenance of border security is the duty of our armed forces and border guard troops, and it is the government’s duty to ensure this. There has to be delimitation and demarcation of the borders with all the neighboring countries, but it can’t be done through blackmail. Yes, it is necessary to sit at the negotiating table, but the first issue that needs to be discussed is the pullout of Azerbaijani military formations from the territory of Armenia,” he said.

When told that Azerbaijan hasn’t been pulling out its troops from the territory of Armenia for over two months and asked how long Armenia has to wait, Avinyan said the following: “We need to wait until the Azerbaijani military formations leave the territory of Armenia. We need to do everything to make sure the issue is solved diplomatically.”

The acting deputy premier also said the status of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is among Armenia’s priorities, and it will be hard to talk about other approaches so long as this issue isn’t resolved and the negotiations within the scope of the OSCE Minsk Group aren’t restored.