Armenian experts associate military exercises in Azerbaijan with anniversary of "April war"

In the course of the military exercises of the Azerbaijani army, no new types of weapons were used. This was noted by experts in Yerevan interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". The Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced that Azerbaijan violated its obligations to the OSCE.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 16, Azerbaijan started the most large-scale military exercises for almost half a year. According to Azerbaijani experts, the military exercises will demonstrate the Azerbaijan's strength to the enemy, but they will not result in an escalation of the conflict.

Political analyst Sergey Minasyan, the deputy director of the Caucasus Institute, associates the military exercises held by Azerbaijan with the anniversary of the April events, as well as with the Armenia's demonstration of long-range missile systems, including the "Iskander" mobile short-range ballistic missile system and the "Smerch" multiple rocket launcher.

According to Sergey Minasyan, Azerbaijan intends to put pressure on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and force them to make concessions.

The political analyst believes that after the last year's April escalation of the conflict, the relative military balance has been reached between the parties. According to Sergey Minasyan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have superiority in some types of weapons, while Azerbaijan has superiority in others.

Political analyst Ara Papyan, the head of the centre "Modus Vivendi", associates the military exercises not only with the anniversary of the April war, but also with the Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

The date for the military exercises was chosen to provoke in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh the thoughts about a possible recurrence of the last year's aggression. This opinion was voiced by Leonid Nersisyan, the editor-in-chief of the magazine "The New Defence Order. Strategies". However, according to Leonid Nersisyan, there are no grounds for panic.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.