US Intelligence warns of threat of military clash between Armenia and Azerbaijan

The threat of full-scale military actions in the Karabakh conflict zone in 2017 remains an urgent problem, since the parties do not want to reach compromise. This was reported by Daniel Coats, Director of US National Intelligence, in his report to the Congress.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at night of April 2, 2016, the situation in the Karabakh conflict zone sharply deteriorated. At noon of April 5, the parties to the conflict announced a truce. At the meetings of Presidents Ilham Aliev and Serzh Sargsyan held on May 16 in Vienna and on June 20 in Saint Petersburg, the agreements were reached on implementation of mechanisms for investigation into violations of the ceasefire regime and increase in the number of OSCE observers. Nevertheless, the parties to the conflict regularly exchanged accusations of shelling.

The unwillingness of the authorities of Baku and Yerevan to reach compromise in the resolution of the Karabakh conflict and the growing internal pressure in the republics "suggests that the possibility of full-scale military action in 2017 still remains," the "Sputnik-Georgia" reports in the evening of May 11 with reference to the report presented by Daniel Coats.

According to the report, the economic problems in Azerbaijan are likely to create difficulties for the current regime and will result in an intensification of "suppression of dissent to maintain power as attempts to balance relations with Russia, Iran and the West."

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