Armenia to Switch to Karabakh ‘Deterrence’ Strategy

(RFE/RL) – Armenia plans to abandon its “static defense” strategy and switch to a more active deterrence in its standoff with Azerbaijani troops in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, an Armenian official said.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation In Europe (OSCE) in Vienna on February 18, Armenian Deputy Defense Minister David Tonoian said that in order “to alleviate” the confrontation, Yerevan is “gradually” turning to the “deterrence system.”

Baku and Yerevan have been locked in conflict over Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh for over two decades. Armenia-backed separatists seized the mainly ethnic-Armenian-populated region during a war in the early 1990s that killed some 30,000 people. International diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict have brought little progress.

The unsteady cease-fire in the region has been repeatedly violated by both sides in recent years, claiming dozens of lives.

Based on reporting by Interfax and News.am

#Armenia #Azerbaijan #Karabakh #NagornoKarabakh