Nagorno Karabakh president: “We aspire to eventually unite with Armenia”

President of Nagorno Karabakh Bako Sahakyan says his country aspires to unite with Armenia.

In an interview with the Argentinean newspaper Clarin, the president of the unrecognized state said: “We aspire to eventually unite with Armenia. We live with a desire to unite with Armenia. We live with such aspiration, but the time hasn’t come yet.”

At the moment, he said, security is the country’s task number one. “We constantly train and arm our armed forces. We live with a hidden threat of attack that may happen at any moment. And we must be able to respond immediately,” Sahakyan said.

Regarding Russian arms supply to Azerbaijan, Bako Sahakyan said he does not know if Russia will continue selling weapons to Baku, as Moscow assists the Karabakh armed forces.  “Our officers are trained with their Russian colleagues. We are concerned not only about Russia, but also about other neighbor and non-neighbor states, including Israel, that may sell weapons to the extremely dangerous country,” he said.

Earlier EADaily reported that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview to Pozner’s show on the Russian television that Armenia and Russia have repeatedly discussed the sale of Russian arms to Azerbaijan. The Armenian president said that Russian-Azerbaijani arms deals not so much disturb the balance of power in the region as have a psychological impact on the Armenian soldier on the border, who understands that Azerbaijani forces use against him the weapons bought from Armenia’s ally.  “It is a critical moment. I hope the General Staff and other agencies of the Russian Federation realize what may happen if the balance of power in the region is upset. I hope they reckon with it,” Sargsyan said.