Azerbaijan Stages 'Major Drills' Near Disputed Region
13:38 11/07/2012 BAKU, July 11 (RIA Novosti) - Azerbaijan's armed forces have been staging major military exercises near the Armenian-backed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijan military said.
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev is overlooking the drills, which involve troops as well as "the use of modern machinery and weapons," a ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti.
The exercises will end on Friday.
Last month, three Armenian and five Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in shoot-outs across the border, prompting U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton to call for restraint.
The two former Soviet republics fought a bloody war over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s which left some 30,000 people dead.
Last month, the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Lamberto Zannier, said there was "increasing concern" about a lack of progress in international efforts to resolve the conflict.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
