The Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) Defense Army will launch counter-offensive actions and expand the existing security zone should Azerbaijan initiate a new attack, Artsakh Defense Minister Levon Mnatsakanyan told in an exclusive interview to Armenian Public Channel’s “Off the Agenda” program aired on Saturday evening.
“In case of a new attack we will inflict crushing blow on the adversary forces and certainly undertake counter-offensive actions. We will expand the width and the depth of the existing security zone during those counter-offensive actions. The few positions that came under Azerbaijani control in April 2016, will definitely be retaken,” Mnatsakanyan said.
Speaking of Azerbaijan’s policy to use its civilian population as a human shield and the incident of July 4, Levon Martirosyan said the Armenian side regrets over the casualties among civilians, yet the Azerbaijani side bears the full responsibility.
“I would recommend to refuse using civilians as a human shield and remove firing points from civilian settlements, since our frontline units will retaliate in case of any shelling irrespective of the location of those firing points”
Speaking of the sabotage infiltration attempts by Azerbaijani forces and Armenian actions to thwart them, the minister said: “We can definitely state no sabotage infiltration attempts are registered today. That is due to the Armenian side disrupting them. We are controlling the situation across the entire Line of Contact including at nighttime. The last attempt was made overnight to February 24-25 of this year, and we all know the outcome. They suffered 6 losses with five of them leaving on the field and the one severely wounded who died afterward in the hospital. After that incident attempts of subversive attacks were permanently excluded.”
Speaking of the reports emerged in the aftermath of the April Four-Day war about the elimination of the so-called “052 Yashma” Azerbaijani elite special force unit, the Artsakh minister said: “The document certifying about the identity of 71st or 72nd group members of 052 brigade of “Yashma” was found at their bodies that were exchanged. It is believed that the 1000th serviceman was on the battlefield and was killed during those clashes. That is being said the whole staff of the brigade was involved in military actions in the northern direction despite Azerbaijani claims they didn’t attacked. According to our data, they have around 400 losses in manpower in only that brigade. Today, they are engaged with assessment works, studying the military units, regiments, choosing special unit forces among conscripts aiming to restore their forces. I am pessimistic they will manage to recover from those losses in two years. They can augment yet their ability to solve serious matters remains open,” the minister noted.
Mnatsakanyan next reflected on the lethal cases on the frontline as a result of sniper fire calling on the necessity to strictly follow the security guidelines on the frontline as most cases are registered due to violation of those rules. In the minister’s words, works are underway aimed at reducing the sniper incidents.
Balance of power between Armenia, Azerbaijan never tilted amid Azerbaijani arms purchase – Artsakh Defense Minister
The balance of power between Armenia and Azerbaijan never tilted and will never change amid Azerbaijani purchase of new weapons, Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) Defense Minister Levon Mnatsakanyan stated during the interview to Armenian Public Channel’s “Off the Agenda” program aired on Saturday evening.
“The balance never tilted and will not be shifted. It was shifted in 1992 with the Azerbaijani side having the full advantage in terms of the available armament. They failed to fulfill their task then and ended up with what was achieved in May 1994. That was the only period when the balance was tilted, while it will be maintained forever,” Mnatsakanyan stressed.
In the minister’s words, the Azerbaijani army faces serious problems in terms of efficient use of the obtained weapons as evidenced by the experience.
“We saw that in April once again. During the military actions of the Four-Day war in 2016 the adversary applied modern armament, Smerch multiple rocket launchers, TOS-1 artillery systems, T-300 Kasirga multiple rocket systems of Israeli and Turkish productions, combat drones with precision strike capability among them. With all that they claimed only limited success in certain directions. This comes to demonstrate that despite the weapon acquisition, they have problems in terms of exploiting them,” the minister said also questioning the Azerbaijanis ability to fully utilize them during border actions.
Asked whether the adversary is preferring offensive or defensive operations judging from the available intelligence data, Mnatsakanyan noted Azerbaijan voices its tactic of offensive predominantly in its public statements, while in reality carries out serious defensive works.
“Our surveillance systems provide information at a distance of 10-15 km deep into Azerbaijani territory with the adversary engaged in heavy engineering works. It shows that despite their statements, Azerbaijanis are forced to defend should the time come. The Defense Army will attack upon necessity and carry out tasks in those territories,” Mnatsakanyan added.