Russian economist, politician, publicist and editor-in-chief of the Svobodnaya Mysl magazine Mikhail Delyagin has revealed that a Russian media outlet has offered him money for declaring that Armenia has unleashed a conflict with Azerbaijan, “targeting its [Azerbaijan's] oil fields".

"To my polite question, why Armenia [started the escalation] (since Azerbaijan definitely started in February) and where exactly the Azerbaijani oil fields are positioned in the conflict zone (I used to know geography once), the editor of the economic section of the Moscow media agency replied: "Well, this is just the position of Baku"," Delyagin said on Facebook.

"This means that if Baku adopts a position that the Armenian Genocide was masterminded by the Russians, Moscow media agencies will happily collect comments confirming this for money."

The situation on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, escalated on July 12, with Azerbaijan launching three unsuccessful infiltration attempts in the next four days. The Azerbaijani military also used large caliber grenade launchers and combat drones to target civilian homes in several border settlements in Armenia. Four servicemen of the Armenian army were killed, while Azerbaijan reported 12 deaths.