The U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Richard Hoagland has called for the removal of snipers along both sides of the Karabakh Line of Contact separating the Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) Republic and Azerbaijan. Hoagland’s comments came in an interview with Armenian and Azerbaijani Services of Voice of America.

“I understand that it is difficult to talk about full demilitarization at the moment. However, we need to reduce the likelihood of military clashes. First of all, it is necessary to withdraw snipers from the contact line and the border zone, increase the number of observers and deploy special equipment there. If two armed sides are facing each other, there is always the likelihood of military clashes”, the source quotes the U.S mediator as saying.