Appointed Secretary General of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers, Yuriy Dakshin, arrived in Baku, where the head of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, Zakir Hasanov, told him about the latest developments in the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops and the current situation. Hasanov stressed the facts of shelling by the Armenian armed units of the Azerbaijani settlements and the civilian population. "For over 20 years the internationally recognized Azerbaijani territories are under occupation of Armenia, over a million of our fellow citizens have become refugees and internally displaced persons, and the negotiation process has become practically ineffective", Hasanov said.
The Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan considers the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories as the only solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh. "Every inch of the Azerbaijani lands that [Defense Minister] Seyran Ohanyan did not think to surrender, will be released by the spilled blood of the Armenian soldiers. The only solution to the conflict is a withdrawal of the Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories once and for all and without conditions. Otherwise, the occupied lands will be liberated from the enemy with the support of the people of Azerbaijan, on the orders of the supreme Commander, and through the power of our army. This would ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country ", the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan stated.
Commenting on the recent developments around Nagorno-Karabakh, a Russian journalist Arkady Dubnov expressed a view that this round was won by Azerbaijan by points: "The country has forced all the parties related to the conflict to review once again the concept of the peace settlement, the status quo has been broken. The status quo, in my opinion, and I'm not alone in this, suited the Armenian side so far and did not suit the Azerbaijani side. "
Dubnov noted that Ilham Aliyev after his return from the United States on April 3rd ended the military actions unilaterally, ‘’ it was made very quickly, though at the time it was most advantageous to stop the actions, because the positional achievements of the Azerbaijani side were more powerful than three days later. Nevertheless, even three days later, Moscow managed to quickly pacify the active phase of the conflict. It was in the interests of Azerbaijan in the first place, because the main thing necessary for Azerbaijan, in my opinion, was to show that the country is ready, its mobilization is sufficiently high from the military point of view, and on the other hand, to show that the country would not stop in the face of anything, as had been the case before. But the country stopped by itself. It was simply necessary to demonstrate this, and it was demonstrated. So Azerbaijan won on points by achieving its goals "
