YEREVAN, November 27. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Ministry of Defense has denied today allegations about the penetration of Azerbaijani soldiers the territory of the Sotk gold deposit located in the Vardenis region of the Gegharkunik province of Armenia.
“The allegations circulated by various media that Azerbaijani servicemen entered the Sotk gold mine in Armenia and demanded that its employees leave the territory do not correspond to reality,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
Earlier on Thursday, a Bright Armenia party MP Harutyunyan Babayan said on his Facebook page that he had information that 80 Azerbaijani soldiers had penetrated the Sotk mine.
The Sotk-Karvachar (Kelbajar) highway runs next to the Sotk gold mine, linking Armenia with Artsakh, which has been closed since 25 November after Karvachar (Kelbajar) district was handed over to Azerbaijan under the November 9 trilateral statement on ending the war in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.