Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijan Defense Ministry has rebuffed an Armenian report claiming Russian troops would enter Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, an Azeri region under Armenian occupation, labeling it a provocation.
"It is immediately clear that this is a concoction," said Lieut.-Col. Eldar Sabiroglu, the ministry spokesman. "Even Armenians could not believe this lie."
The Armenia Today news agency has quoted a so-called reliable source at the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying that Russia`s 58th detachment intended to enter the region, which has been occupied by Armenian forces since the early 1990s.
Sabiroglu said Armenians realize all too well that the Russian military would never enter Garabagh. "It appears that some Armenian sources, by publishing the report quoting the www.armenia.today website, are trying to explore something. But they are making a big mistake."
Sabiroglu made it clear that not a single issue regarding Upper Garabagh could be solved without being known to Azerbaijan. "Overall, stationing any country`s military there is out of the question. Azerbaijan is a sovereign and independent state, and outside interference with it is impossible."
The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry spokesman, Khazar Ibrahim, also dismissed the Armenian report.
"The issue of removing the Armenian forces from Upper Garabagh and replacing them with the Russian military and peacekeepers in not on agenda. This is just a supposition," he said.
Ibrahim said Russian and Armenian media had triggered "artificial controversy" by publishing the report without official confirmation.
He noted that Russia backs Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity and deems it appropriate to continue efforts at reaching a negotiated solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group.