Armenia Installing Surveillance Equipment to Enhance Border Security

YEREVAN — Armenia’s Ministry of Defense says that the process of installation of surveillance equipment at the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is underway after the fierce fighting in the conflict zone in April 2016.

The head of the Ministry’s Defense Policy Department Levon Ayvazian said the cameras allow to control the movement of the Azerbaijani forces and make the service conditions of the Armenian soldiers more secure. “However, the system still needs improvement, and works are being done for that purpose”.

Ayvazian confirmed that together with the latest technologies empty tin cans are still being applied as part of the early warning system. “However primitive they may seem, I can say that they are effective. If it works, it may also be applied along with high technology. Tin cans are a necessity in some places,” the official emphasized at Yerevan press conference on Tuesday.

On Monday, chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Movses Hakobian hosted consultations during which he instructed commanders to concentrate efforts on ensuring the security of servicemen on combat duty at border outposts.

According to Ayvazian, surveillance equipment is currently installed in some parts of the border. But this process, he said, is not completed yet. Ayvazian said that a huge amount of work has already been done, and similar devices are mainly installed at the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces. “It has increased our ability to track the movement of the enemy,” the Defense Ministry official said.