Pashinyan’s office says Armenia received no facts from Azerbaijan regarding ceasefire violation allegations

On Tuesday, the Armenian Prime Minister’s office released a statement noting that Armenia had not received ‘a single fact or substantiation about ceasefire violations’ from Azerbaijan, following nearly ten accusations in recent days.

The latest round of cease-fire accusations began on 16 March, three days after Armenia and Azerbaijan announced that they had reached an agreement on a peace deal.

As of Wednesday at 12:00, Armenia had released nine statements in total refuting Azerbaijan’s accusations.

On Monday, the EU Mission in Armenia (EUMA) stated that from 16–17 March, its observers had patrolled ‘various locations along the [Armenia–Azerbaijan] border. The situation remains calm and quiet, with no unusual activity observed’.

In this latest round of refutation, Armenia offered a new suggestion, saying that it was ready to investigate Baku’s claims should its Defence Ministry provide ‘facts supporting’ its allegations.

Armenia offers to investigate Azerbaijan’s ceasefire violation allegations

Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of violating the ceasefire agreement seven times since 16 March.

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The Armenian Prime Minister’s office noted that since the offer was extended on 17 March, ‘not a single fact or substantiation about ceasefire violation [...] has been conveyed’ by Azerbaijan.

They additionally reiterated their offer made in June 2024 on the creation of a joint Armenia–Azerbaijan mechanism for investigating ceasefire violation cases, but added that Azerbaijan has not ‘given a positive response to this day’ to the offer.

The Prime Minister’s Office also stated that the Armenian side did not ‘have a reason or order to violate the ceasefire’.

Armenia ‘calls on [...] Azerbaijan to launch consultations about the date and venue for signing the agreement [of the peace treaty]’, the statement read.

‘We find it noteworthy that the agreed-upon text of the draft agreement addresses the fundamental issues of peace and establishment of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and envisages mechanisms for discussions of future tasks’, the Prime Minister’s office said.

Continued back-and-forth between Azerbaijan and Armenia

On Tuesday, Azerbaijan ‘firmly reject[ed]’ the statement by Pashinyan’s office, claiming that it ‘distorts the realities on the ground’.

‘Ending the border shooting cases that the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Azerbaijan has announced, as well as the open provocations by the Armenian military personnel also seen from video recordings that the Armenian side is aware of, is a must for stability’, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada said.

Hajizada was likely referring to a video shared on Monday evening by pro-government media outlet Caliber, which depicted an Armenian soldier in an unspecified military position appearing to throw small objects at an unknown target.

In the accompanying caption, Caliber described the action as ‘provocative behaviour’, also claiming that the soldier used ‘offensive language’, and that he was ‘deliberately exploiting the presence of the EU mission’ on the Armenia– Azerbaijan border.

In the Foreign Ministry statement, Hajizada also responded to the Armenian Prime Minister’s office’s note that Armenia had submitted written proposals to Azerbaijan in January 2025, ‘for solving the issue of railway cargo transportation’ and ‘creating a bilateral mechanism for mutual arms control’.

Hajizada called those offers ‘abstract and practically impossible propositions have no validity’, adding that it ‘reminds us of proposals made by the Minsk Group co-chairs’.

Armenia ‘has no moral right to speak about such [arms control] mechanisms’, Hajizada said.

On Wednesday, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan told Armenpress that the Armenian government ‘has announced on the highest level that it has neither an objective nor a goal to escalate the situation and continues to act by the principles of the agenda of peace’, and that its army ‘function under this very logic’.

Badalyan also commented on Hajizada’s statement that ‘it would be timely to give explanations on how the massive military buildups, especially in the border areas, that also include the deployment of offensive weaponry, serve such an agenda of Armenia’.

‘Armenia can only prepare for one scenario of force, i.e., to withstand a possible aggression, which is the legitimate right of any country, and every step by Armenia in the border regions fits exclusively in the logic of defence’, Badalyan said.

She also noted that Armenia ‘conducts a strategy of army transformation, which is a public document’.

In February, EUMA head Markus Ritter discussed this issue in an interview with Armenpress, saying that ‘both sides are fortifying their positions. Both sides continue to be prepared for the worst, which is obvious’.

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