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Frequent ceasefire violations by Azerbaijani troops along the line of contact between the armed forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan since the end of European Games in Baku is a predictable phenomenon, David Jamalyan , an advisor to Armenia’s defense minister, said in an interview with Panorama.am.

The Azerbaijani army’s attempts to destabilize the situation on the border were predictable, and the Armenian army is ready for such developments, he said.

The use of new types of large caliber weapons by the enemy bears evidence of a qualitatively new form of escalation at the border, Jamalyan noted.

“From the very beginning when the ceasefire came into effect, the Armenian side refrained from using large caliber weapons, but if the enemy resorts to such actions, naturally our frontline units too cannot watch from the sidelines. I should say that several mortar emplacements of Azerbaijan have been destroyed by accurate fire of the Armenian army over the past year. But for our retaliatory actions, the situation on the border would have escalated further as the enemy would have become much more insolent after feeling that their actions go unpunished,” the official said adding that society, let alone the Armenian army, should be ready for an escalation of tension on the border.

In his words, the readiness of the society and the army for a possible aggression of the enemy and destabilization of the situation will not allow us to relax and be perceived by the Azerbaijani side as an easy target and will become a crucial deterrent against hostile attempts.

“In this case the ability to consolidate promptly is extremely important. I am sure that the consolidation of our public in August of last year and volunteers’ visits to frontline positions were noticed by Azerbaijan and had a sobering effect. Henceforth too, it is necessary to bring the adversary around regularly so as to ensure a lasting peace,” D. Jamalyan said.

To remind, Azerbaijani troops continued to intensively violate the ceasefire at the weekend along the line of contact between the armed forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan, according to the press service of Defense Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

The Azerbaijani side violated the ceasefire about 320 times over the indicated period. Over 5,000 shots were fired at Armenian frontline positions from guns and artillery weapons of various calibers, including 49 shells from 60 mm mortars, 29 grenades from RPG-7 and AGS-17 grenade launchers, and over 200 shots from large-caliber machine guns. The offensive actions of Azerbaijani troops were halted due to prompt measures taken frontline units of Defense Army.