YEREVAN, June 2. /TASS/. Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a meeting with President of the European Council Charles Michel on Wednesday in Brussels and underlined the vital nature of the withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from Armenia, Pashinyan’s press service reported.
"The acting prime minister provided a detailed account about the situation in the Southern Caucasus after the 44-day-long Artsakh war (hostilities in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic — TASS) and on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in particular. Pashinyan underlined the need to withdraw the Azerbaijani Armed Forces from the sovereign territory of Armenia and provided information about diplomatic and negotiating actions in this area," the statement reads.
Pashinyan also underlined the necessity for "an appropriate reaction from the international community to Azerbaijan’s provocative actions and actions to ensure the return of Armenian prisoners of war." "The president of the European Council welcomed the position of the Armenian side on a peaceful and political resolution of the problem on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and expressed readiness of the European Union to facilitate this process," the statement adds.
Following the end of military action in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone last fall, when seven regions adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh fell under Azerbaijan’s control, the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan moved to the immediate vicinity of the Syunik and Gegharkunik Provinces. The situation there exacerbated on May 12. Then, the Armenian Defense Ministry announced that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces attempted to carry out "certain operations" in the Syunik Province in a bid to "redefine the border." The Azerbaijani forces ceased their activities after the Armenian Armed Forces took measures in response.
However, both parties regularly report new incidents. On May 27, Azerbaijan announced that it had captured six Armenian servicemen during an attempt to cross the border. The Armenian side confirmed that the servicemen were captured yet emphasized that at the time they were involved in engineering works in the border area of Armenia’s Gegharkunik Province. Later, Yerevan said that it had turned to the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) with regards to the escalation of the situation on the Armenian-Azeri border. In their turn, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh put forward their de-escalation plan, which involves the parties withdrawing troops and beginning the process of demarcating and delimiting the state border with the assistance of the Minsk Group.
