VLADIMIR KAZIMIROV: INCIDENTS AT CONTACT LINE GO ON AGGRAVATING
TENSION AND DISTRUST BETWEEN KARABAKH CONFLICT PARTIES

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
July 25, 2006

According to an agreement on strengthening cease-fire all the sides of
the Nagorno Karabakh conflict have undertaken permanent obligations
to quickly settle all incidents at the contact line, not to assume
their escalation and aggravation of tension. OSCE Minsk Group former
Russian Co-Chair Vladimir Kazimirov told PanARMENIAN.Net that the
parties had not fulfilled their obligations for a long time.

"Let’s suppose that the implementation of the agreement has uncovered
its shortcomings, it did not prove to be effective enough. However,
in such a case, if there is political will and the lives of the
servicemen and civilians living near the contact line is precious,
the parties would inform the mediators of the fact, put forward
proposals how to supplement the agreement, make it more useful.
However, the matter was reduced to holding of monitorings, which
are selective and cannot ensure either direct contacts between the
parties or ubiquitous supervision of the state of affairs at the
contact line. Meanwhile, the incidents that have already claimed
thousands of lives go on aggravating tension and distrust between
the parties," Kazimirov underscored. The Russian diplomat noted RA
DM Serge Sargsyan had publicly stated the readiness to return to
fulfillment of the obligations undertaken, if the Azeri party acted
the same way. Nagorno Karabakh joined the position and repeated it
in May 2006. "It is Baku that has kept silent for years. One wishes
to believe that the Azeri President’s utterances on the issue will
prompt to constructiveness. It seems that Baku’s negative approach was
conditioned by the unwillingness to maintain direct contacts with the
opposite parties’ servicemen, moreover with Nagorno Karabakh a party
to the agreement. Should one wrestle with the coordination of the
"principles" and preparation of agreements between the parties, if
they are the same way "accurate" in their implementation and display
the same political "will"? Today the Co-Chairs insist on displaying the
parties’ political will", the Russian diplomat remarked. To note, the
mediator’s proposals on strengthening ceasefire in the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict were sent by Vladimir Kazimirov to the RA and AR Presidents
Levon Ter – Petrosyan and Heydar Aliyev, as well as Nagorno Karabakh
Head Robert Kocharyan, on February 3, 1995. The parties’ consent was
received February 4, 1995 from all the conflict parties’ DMs.