Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reacts to biased article by Russian newspaper

  02 September 2020    Read: 1283
  Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reacts to biased article by Russian newspaper

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry commented on a biased article published by Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on September 1.

“The Russian newspaper published an article entitled "Syrian fighters in Azerbaijan are preparing for a blitzkrieg against Armenia" and presented information that was completely untrue. The author of the article, Vladimir Mukhin misled the readers without referring to any reliable source and without citing convincing facts. We categorically reject the false fabrications indicated in the article that allegedly "there is already a de-facto Turkish military base in Nakhchivan, reinforced by combat aircraft," and about "the transfer of about 500 Syrian militants to Azerbaijan, mainly Turkomans,” said the ministry.

“All the arguments in the mentioned article, especially those concerning the alleged transfer of militants from Syria to Azerbaijan, are clear disinformation and in no way reflect reality,” noted the defense ministry.

“Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense officially declares that there are no military bases of foreign states or any other illegal armed group on the territory of the country. The professionalism and combat experience of the personnel of the Azerbaijani army, as well as the military equipment and combat resources in service, are sufficient to quickly complete any combat mission to liberate the lands occupied by Armenia and restore the country's territorial integrity. The Azerbaijani Army demonstrated this during the April 2016 battles, as well as during the combat operations conducted in 2018 in Nakhchivan and in 2020 in fighting off the Armenian attacks in the direction of Tovuz district,” the ministry said.

“We would recommend "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" to focus its attention on the amendments to the Armenian law "On Defense", which have been submitted for public discussion by the Armenian community. This law allows Armenia, which has big problems with mobilization resources, to create so-called armed militias on a voluntary basis, where people under 70 can sign up,” the defense ministry added.

“It is possible that, referring to this law, Armenia will thereby legitimize the issue of manning its army with mercenaries and terrorists deployed from hot spots in the Middle East, in particular from Syria and Lebanon, under the guise of a militia,” said the ministry.

The defense ministry also added that Yerevan, interested in spreading such misinformation, deliberately creates fertile ground for aggravating the situation in the region, escalating the conflict and openly involving a larger number of parties in it.


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