YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: We had written on March 29 that RF [(Russian Federation)] Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu had personally started dealing with the prevention of the Azerbaijani provocations and the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops in Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)].

(…) Shoygu had had a direct telephone conversation with Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov and "discussed ways to stabilize the situation in Artsakh."

(…). The content of the telephone conversation between Shoygu and Hasanov has reached the Artsakh authorities, from which it can be seen how the RF minister demands with rather harsh expressions from Hasanov to withdraw their armed forces from the territory of Artsakh. And Hasanov answers that he will convey his demand to his president, the commander-in-chief.

Those in Artsakh confidently claim that the conversation between [Russian and Azerbaijani President Vladimir] Putin and [Ilham] Aliyev was also quite harsh, and the RF president repeated the demand—conveyed through Shoygu—to return the [Azerbaijani] troops to the initial positions.

(…) the political forces and authorities of Artsakh also seem to have realized that there is no need to rely on the Russians, and they have decided to take some steps. First, the DA [(Defense Army)] forces have been brought to combat-readiness—they have realized that responding to the aggressor is not an "insult" to the Russian peacekeepers, and force must be responded with force, not beg for peace or rely on Russian weapons. Moreover, according to our information, the Artsakh authorities also have decided to spend additional funds on the army, weapons and ammunition, and the establishment of defense structures, and have decided to redistribute state funds—directing them to security issues.