Armenia again blames Azerbaijan for escalating Karabakh conflict

Azerbaijan continues increasing tension on the line of contact, Defense Minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan said at a meeting with Armenian and Russian diplomats, parliamentarians, experts, journalists and representatives of the Armenian organizations in Russia today, at the Armenian Embassy in Moscow.

“Our neighbors keep increasing tension on the Line of Contact. Azerbaijan continues its policy of escalating the conflict. They constantly violate the termless ceasefire agreement in the zone of the Karabakh conflict that was signed in 1994. That country refuses to implement the arrangements made at the Vienna and Saint Petersburg talks brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group to remove snipers from the Line of Contact, to improve monitoring and the expand the powers of the OSCE CiO PR,” Sargsyan said.

According to him, Armenia needs to develop and apply new models in order to settle immediate tasks on the Line of Contact, and the capacity of the Armed Forces of Armenia must be development with renewed vigor.

“In this area, we plan a range of steps to boost the prestige and authority of the commissioned service, upgrade the quality of education, expand our military and technical capacities. It is beyond any doubt that Russia is our partner number one here. The high-level political dialogue must be backed with arrangements and their implementation by departments and ministries,” Sargsyan said.