The letter of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on 22 February on the serious threat posed by the mass contamination of the liberated territories of Azerbaijan with mines and other explosives and Armenia's refusal to provide relevant information on the mined areas, has been circulated as a document of the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council.

Axar.az reports this was stated by the MFA.

In the letter, it is mentioned that during the almost three decades of occupation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, Armenia massively laid mines in these territories, as a result of which there were numerous casualties among the Azerbaijani military and civilians.

According to the letter, the mines and other explosive devices in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan pose a serious threat to the life and safety of the Azerbaijani military and civilians in the post-conflict period. Since the signing of the trilateral statement by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia on 10 November 2020, which announced an end to all military activities between Armenia and Azerbaijan, 15 citizens of Azerbaijan, including 9 civilians, have been killed and 65 citizens, including 8 civilians, have been seriously wounded as a result of mine explosions in the recently liberated territories.

The letter reads that it is a blatant violation of Armenia’s obligation under customary international humanitarian law. The human costs inflicted by the Armenian-planted mines cannot but constitute a war crime. The release of information by Armenia on the location of the minefields is an absolute necessity so as to avoid further loss of innocent lives and to move forward towards a speedy post-conflict reconstruction and thereby help a lasting peace.

The Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov also mentionsthat in the light of the above, I appeal to you with an urgent request to take all measures at your disposal to persuade Armenia to live up to its obligation under customary international law by releasing information regarding the location of the minefields and cease all actions and statements impeding the realization of the vision of peace, security and cooperation envisaged in the trilateral statement.