Pashinyan: Azerbaijan plans war against Armenia

(Patria) - Azerbaijan plans a "full-scale war" against Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday, two days after four Armenian soldiers were killed in a clash on their border.

Tensions between the two Caucasus neighbours remain high since Baku retook the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh region in a lightning military offensive last September.

"Our analysis shows that Azerbaijan intends to launch military action in some parts of the border with the prospect of turning the military escalation into a full-scale war against Armenia," Pashinyan said at a government meeting, AFP reported.

"This intention can be read in all of Azerbaijan's statements and actions," he added.

Yerevan is concerned that Azerbaijan, emboldened by its success in Karabakh, could attack Armenian territory to create a land bridge to its exclave of Nakhchivan.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was re-elected this month, said in his inauguration speech on Wednesday that Armenia, not Azerbaijan, has unresolved territorial claims.

"We have no territorial claims to Armenia. And they should abandon their claims. Talking to us in the language of blackmail will cost them dearly," he said.

Pashinyan and Aliyev had previously said a peace deal could have been signed by the end of last year, but internationally mediated peace talks have failed to yield progress. On Tuesday, both sides accused each other of opening fire on their volatile border, in a clash that Armenia said killed four of its soldiers.