Policy

The Republic of Armenia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.

According to its statements and government officials, Armenia cannot join the treaty until its territorial dispute with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has been resolved. In June 2021, Armenia told the president of the Mine Ban Treaty that it values the treaty but has not signed it as the decision is linked to “the security environment in our region” and the “principle of reciprocity.”[1]

In 2010, Armenia told the Monitor that it supports the treaty and values the idea of transparency and confidence-building measures, but “cannot become a member of the Mine Ban Treaty at this moment.”[2] Armenia participated in the 1996–1997 Ottawa Process that created the Mine Ban Treaty, but did not attend the Oslo negotiations. Armenia was present at the treaty’s signing conference as an observer.

Armenia has attended several meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty, most recently the Nineteenth Meeting of States Parties held virtually in November 2021, as an observer.[3]

In December 2021, Armenia voted in favor of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 76/26 promoting universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. [4] It has also voted in favor of previous annual resolutions on the treaty.

Armenia is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) or the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Armenia has stated several times that it has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines.[5]

Armenia inherited a stockpile of landmines from the break-up of the Soviet Union, but has not provided information on the size or composition of this stockpile, as such information is regarded as sensitive.[6]

On 17 September 2022, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense released a statement, along with a video, claiming to have found 100 Armenian-made PMN-E antipersonnel mines,[7] eight PMN-2 antipersonnel mines, and 10 antitank mines on territories and supply roads between the positions of Azerbaijani army units.[8] The claim that Armenia is producing antipersonnel mines is a recent development and has not been confirmed by non-Azerbaijani sources. Armenia has denied these claims and stated in a letter to the Security Council, dated 13 September 2022, that Azerbaijan was “disseminating false information…in preparation for launching armed aggression.”[9]

Use

Armenian officials have stated that Armenia last used antipersonnel mines during the 1992–1994 conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.[10] It regards landmines laid along its border with Azerbaijan as essential to its defense.[11] This presumably includes and applies to the occupation by Armenia of seven districts of Azerbaijan—outside of the Nagorno-Karabakh region but adjoining Armenia—until late 2020.

Azerbaijan alleges past use by Armenia, and also alleges that it used antipersonnel mines during fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied districts in September–November 2020. In April 2021, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement alleging that “during almost three decades of occupation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, Armenia deliberately laid mines in these territories, as a result of which there had been numerous casualties among the Azerbaijani military and civilians.” Moreover, it alleged that “Armenia also deliberately planted mines on a massive scale during its forced withdrawal following the counter-offensive operation of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan.”[12]

At the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings in June 2021, Armenia denied using antipersonnel mines during the 2020 conflict—and stated that during their withdrawal, Armenian forces lacked the time possible to mine areas that subsequently came under Azerbaijan’s control.[13] According to Armenia, the majority of territory taken by Azerbaijan in 2020 was heavily mined by Azerbaijan when it previously controlled those areas in the early 1990s.

On 27 May 2021, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces captured six Armenian soldiers that it said were attempting to lay mines in the settlement of Yukhari Ayrim, in the Kalbajar border region.[14] Armenia’s Ministry of Defense said that the soldiers were detained while carrying out “engineering work.”[15] Armenia’s acting prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, told a government meeting that the Armenian soldiers emplaced mines along sections of the border to strengthen security and installed warning signs.[16] At the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings held in June 2021, Armenia’s representative did not confirm or deny the alleged landmine use in the border area in May 2021.

On 12 June 2021, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that 15 detained Armenians had been handed back over to Armenia, in exchange for maps from Armenia showing the location of around 97,000 landmines laid in the Aghdam region, one of seven territories outside of Nagorno-Karabakh that Azerbaijan regained control over during the 2020 fighting.[17] According to Azerbaijan’s president, Iham Aliyev, however, the accuracy of these maps does not exceed 25%.[18]

In September 2022, hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan reignited when Azerbaijan claimed that Armenian forces had “mined the territories and supply roads” of Azerbaijan army units.[19] The previous month, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense claimed to have unearthed and defused a total of 1,318 Armenian-produced PMN-E antipersonnel mines, in the Lachin region.[20]

Armenia denied these claims and stated in a letter to the Security Council, dated 13 September 2022, that Azerbaijan was “disseminating false information…in preparation for launching armed aggression.”[21]