"I, as defense minister, declare that we have a system of counteraction — we can shoot down these missiles," Hasanov said.
Moreover, Azerbaijan is considering the possibility of purchasing an extra batch of arms from Russia and is conducting tests, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov said.
"We are now additionally considering some samples of arms, requesting, testing. Buying weapons is a multifaceted issue," Hasanov told RIA Novosti in an interview.
On May 16, 2016, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev met in Vienna to discuss the conflict. The sides reiterated there can be no military solution to the conflict and reaffirmed their commitment to 1994 and 1995 peace agreements. The presidents also agreed to finalize the OSCE investigative mechanism as soon as possible to reduce the risk of further violence.
On June 20, 2016, the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in St. Petersburg where they reaffirmed their commitment to achieve steady progress in the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and agreed to increase the number of OSCE monitors working in the conflict zone.
Despite the achieved agreements, a new outbreak of violence erupted last week when Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said that the Azerbaijani village of Alkhanli was shelled, which resulted in the deaths of two people as well as the civil property damage. The unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic's Ministry of Defense pointed out that its forces opened retaliatory fire against Azerbaijan's multiple rocket launcher firing positions, and put all the blame on Baku.
