It’s impossible to speak of the negotiation process unless Azerbaijan stops ceasefire violations, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan, who is attending the Fifth Moscow Conference on International Security, told Radio Liberty Wednesday.
Asked whether the Russian representatives, including the Defense Minister or other officials haven’t tried to organize his and his Azerbaijani counterpart’s meeting, Ohanyan said: “No such talks have taken place, since I told them too that the agreement on halting fire was observed for a very short time: The situation has been tense especially during the last three days. The ceasefire has been violated since the night from April 23 to 24 and up to now, especially during the night hours and in the northern part of Nagorno-Karabakh, with the use of all types of artillery systems and means. Under these circumstances, nothing is left for the corresponding subdivisions of the Defense Army but to carry out preventive measures to restrain them,” the Minister said.
In his words, during the break, he was approached by Azerbaijani journalists, who inquired as to why Armenia doesn’t take measures towards holding peaceful negotiations: “I answered them that, on the contrary, Armenia has always been for successful negotiations and formation of relevant confidence-building mechanisms, but Azerbaijan has turned all this down. And it is impossible to speak about the negotiation process in this reality unless the sides stop the violations, and exactly the Azerbaijani side, which is making gross violations,” Ohanyan noted.
Referring to the Armenian-Russian relations, he said: “Currently I can’t mention any fact which would show that our relations as strategic partners have somehow been disrupted and aren’t implemented. The relations remain the same especially in the military and defense area: they are the same even from humane standpoint. I think all those talks and hearsay are the result of superficial analysis and assessment of the situation”.
