Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert
Azerbaijan has adopted a new strategy of long-lasting, fatiguing war, Artsakh Defense Minister Movses Hakobyan told reporters in Stepanakert. According to the Defense Army Commander, the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015 were unprecedented with regard to the tension at the line of contact.
The rival took no subversive attempts in 2013, while the number of acts of sabotage reached 19 in 2014. In nine cases out of 24 reported in the past two months the enemy has managed to penetrate into the depth of defense. The Minister said, however, that this does not testify to the combat readiness of the Azerbaijani army.
“The analysis of the actions shows that the subversive acts have been carried out by one subdivision trained in Turkey,” he noted.
The Commander said that the members of this specially trained unit faced a worthy counterstrike by privates of the Defense Army. “Unfortunately, we suffered losses when rebuffing the attacks,” he added.
The increased number of subversive acts and ceasefire violations are an evidence of a new strategy adopted by the rival. “The task is the same – to cause harm to Armenians in every way possible, to engage Armenia and Artsakh in arms race, to affect the domestic political situation in Armenia and contribute to migration,” Movses Hakobyan said.
According to the Minister, the need to give a worthy response to the Azerbaijani side has lead to changed decisions in the Defense Army, the armaments have been improved, the level of combat readiness has been raised.
Minister Movsisyan considers, however, that at the frontlines everything depends first of all on the alertness and fighting spirit of the soldier. “This is what has allowed the Defense Army to fulfill its task of ensuring the security of Artsakh.”
