Armenian PM Accuses Azeri Forces of Breaching Border, Sacks Defense Minister

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan September 16, 2021. (Reuters)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan September 16, 2021. (Reuters)
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Armenian PM Accuses Azeri Forces of Breaching Border, Sacks Defense Minister

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan September 16, 2021. (Reuters)
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attends a meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan September 16, 2021. (Reuters)

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan's troops on Monday of violating the border between the two countries and sacked his defense minister, the Interfax news agency reported.

Another Russian news agency, RIA, quoted Armenia's Security Council as saying the incident took place on Sunday but the Azeri troops had since left.

Interfax quoted an Azeri foreign ministry spokesperson as saying Azeri forces were operating on the country's own sovereign territory and accusing Armenia of "provocations."

The incident marked an escalation of tensions between the two former Soviet republics, which fought a 44-day war last year that killed at least 6,500 people and ended in a decisive victory for Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan did not say on what scale the alleged incursion had taken place but told a security council meeting that he had dismissed minister Arshak Karapetyan over the incident.

TASS news agency said Armenia had reported the episode to Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of post-Soviet states.

Last year's war over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh was ended by a Russian-brokered deal under which Moscow deployed 1,960 peacekeepers to the region for an initial five-year period.

But the accord left many questions unresolved, including the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenians who live there, who numbered up to 150,000 before the war



Putin: Russia to Resume Production of Nuclear-capable Intermediate Range Missiles

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with graduates of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 28, 2024. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with graduates of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 28, 2024. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Putin: Russia to Resume Production of Nuclear-capable Intermediate Range Missiles

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with graduates of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 28, 2024. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with graduates of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Friday, June 28, 2024. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia would resume production of short and medium range nuclear-capable land-based missiles due to what he said were moves by the United States to deploy them in both Europe and Asia.
The United States formally withdrew from the landmark 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia in 2019 after saying that Moscow was violating the accord, an accusation the Kremlin denied.
Russia then imposed a moratorium on its own development of missiles previously banned by the INF treaty.
"It is known that the United States not only produces these missile systems, but has already brought them to Europe for exercises in Denmark," Putin told a meeting of Russia's Security Council.
"It was recently announced that they are in the Philippines. It is not known whether they took the missiles out of there or not."
Putin said that Russia was thus forced to respond.
"Apparently, we need to start manufacturing these strike systems and then, based on the actual situation, make decisions about where – if necessary to ensure our safety – to place them," Putin said.

Putin said earlier this month he could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the United States and its European allies if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with long-range Western weapons.