Azernews.Az

By Victor Petrov

As negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh are gaining momentum, international mediators have once again voiced the need to return the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. This has got on the nerve of Armenian leadership.

Interested in maintaining the status quo, Yerevan is playing for time, as the balance of forces in the region is not on its side. To kill the time, reports say, Armenians leadership is discussing behind the scene a variety of scenarios, including adopting provocative measures against Azerbaijan.

Some anonymous sources said, Armenia is likely to use its toxic chemicals, stocked up by the armed forces in recent yeas against Azerbaijan.

Armenia has similar experience in using such weapons against Azerbaijan. There are many documentaries, showing that during the occupation of Azerbaijani territories in the early 1990s, the Armenian armed forces used shells and cartridges filled with toxic chemicals - iprite, phosgene, diphosgene and cyanide against Azerbaijan.

And now, after more than 20 years, unwilling to make any concessions in the negotiation process, the Armenian authorities are likely to resort to their once successful experience in using chemical weapons against Azerbaijan.

The fact that the Armenian armed forces started stocking cyanide without any reason was reported by a member of one of the Russian gold mining companies who recently visited Armenia. Some official speaking on condition of anonymity said Ararat Gold Recovery Company has recently taken a lot of metallic barrels with cyanide to Armenia's military units in the border areas.

Cyanide is widely used in the gold mining industry in Armenia which is mostly owned by foreign investors. However, chemical material is sometimes used for military purposes.

Ararat region is bordering with Turkey, as well as Sharur and Sadarak regions of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR).

Armenian border with Turkey is guarded by the Russian Federal Security Service border guards, but the Armenian military is deployed just on the border with Azerbaijan. Arpachay river, a vital source for the reservoir of the NAR, passes through this territory. There are many settlements that may become targets of the chemical attacks by the Armenian armed forces.

Now the foreign companies operating in gold mining field in Armenia are deeply concerned about the actions of their Armenian partners as cyanide usage in the area of Nakhchivan may negatively affect the miners themselves .

Of course, the presence of cyanide in Armenia's mining industry is justifiable but there is no reason for stockpiling of the material by the armed forces.

Now Azerbaijan expects the international community to pay more attention to this fact and put an end to the chemical actions of Armenia which can become a serious environmental disaster for the whole region.