21:46,

YEREVAN, JULY 22, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan held a telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the initiative of the latter.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Offic eof the Prime Minister, PM Pashinyan emphasized that Armenia highly appreciates the consistent focus of the Secretary-General on peace and security in the South Caucasus region. Pashinyan presented the tense situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border resulted by the provocative actions of Azerbaijan, emphasizing that Azerbaijan took these actions against the call of the Secretary general to preserve global peace in the period of the pandemic.

''I assure you that Armenia spared no efforts for ceasing the military operations and easing the tensions'', PM Pashinyan said.

Speaking about the violations of agreements by Azerbaijan on ceasing the military operations, PM Pashinyan added that at this moment one can see the contradictory statements and activities by the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan. ''We understand the the domestic situation in Azerbaijan is serious, but we cannot be held hostage to the trap set by President Aliyev. The hatred and threats of war propogated against Armenia for years had created an illusion of military dominance, which is now disappearing.  We have no confidence if the leadership of Azerbaijan has the ability or will to preserve the ceasefire regime and refrain from provocative rhetoric'', Pashinyan said.

Nikol Pashinyan reaffirmed Armenia's commitment to the peaceful settlement, emphasizing that in this particular situation the strengthening of the monitoring capacities of the OSCE and implementation of agreements are of key importance.

''It's necessary that the leadership of Azerbaijan publicly denies using force or the threat to do that. The Azerbaijani leadership must accept that peaceful negotiations have no alternative'', the Armenian PM said.

António Guterres expressed concerns over the escalated situation in the region, emphasiizng the importance of immediate measures aimed at easing the tensions, including by the implementation of the agreements on the strengthening of the ceasefire regime. The UN Secretary general reaffirmed his support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs' format.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan