MP: Karabakh demining costs to exceed Armenia's mining expenses

Armenia spent $400 million on purchasing and planting mines during its occupation of Azerbaijani territories, said Azerbaijani MP Aydin Mirzazade.

On October 16, during a session of the Parliament Committee on Defence, Security and Anti-Corruption, he emphasised that the return to the liberated territories would only be possible after they had been fully cleared of mines, Caliber.Az reports per local media.

However, the cost of demining is expected to far exceed what Armenia spent on the initial mining.

Notably, the Mine Action Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ANAMA), in collaboration with the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, has been conducting operations using state-of-the-art equipment to detect and neutralise explosives that pose a threat to both civilians and military personnel in the liberated areas of Karabakh and its surrounding regions.

Since the end of the Second Karabakh War in November 2020, Azerbaijani authorities have surveyed and cleared 162,000 hectares of land. This effort has led to the removal of 104,000 unexploded ordnances, over 33,000 anti-personnel mines, and more than 20,000 anti-tank mines.

The presence of landmines in Karabakh has claimed the lives of 70 Azerbaijani citizens and left 309 others injured since the war's conclusion.

By Aghakazim Guliyev