Tiran Khachatryan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, explained the reasons for the presence of Azerbaijani troops in the Sotk mine area at a press conference held at the headquarters at midnight on November 26. According to Khachatryan, half of the mine is in Armenia and the other half in Azerbaijan.
The Deputy Chief of Staff reminded that according to the tripartite statement signed on November 10, the Armenian Armed Forces should have completely left the Karvachar region on the 25th of the month for an extended period of time, which was done.
“The work related to the troops was carried out in a pre-planned manner. I will not go into details, in what order it was carried out, in what order, what protection problems were solved. “The issue that made us address this issue is related to the news in the media in the Sotk region, as well as in the area of the gold mine operated by the Russian organization GeoProMining,” said Tiran Khachatryan. According to the Deputy Chief of Staff, the rumors that Azerbaijani troops have invaded Armenia do not correspond to reality.
“Security measures were taken by the Russian side in advance in connection with the mine and the region in general, the state border was fenced along the mine, and a checkpoint was set up on the road. “This was done with the help of the Russian side in order to solve their security problems,” he said.
According to the representative of the General Staff, the Armenian Armed Forces were not involved in the implementation of this issue, the work was carried out on the initiative and by the efforts of a Russian company.
After entering the territory of Karvachar, the Azerbaijani troops met with the blockades and raised the issue that it was their territory, that the forces guarding the territory should leave that territory.
“There have been long negotiations with the Russian side, representing Azerbaijan, what agreement they have reached, what development they will have in the future, I can not say, the relevant personnel has left the protection zone,” he said.
Tiran Khachatryan assured that the Armed Forces are guarding the state border of Armenia, along the existing border, where there are no positions located behind the state border.
The representative of the General Staff had no information about the further operation of the mine, saying that he did not know what agreements the mine owners had with the representatives of the opposite party.