Author: Bedik Zaminian

 20:36, 6 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 6, ARMENPRESS. Javier Colomina, the special representative of the NATO Secretary General for the Caucasus and Central Asia, referred to the shooting of a police car by the Azerbaijani armed forces and the death of people in Artsakh.

“Very concerned with reports of deadly incident in vicinity of Stepanakert. This incident demonstrates the urgency to find solutions for outstanding issues at the negotiation table. NATO supports the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan”, ARMENPRESS reports, Colomina wrote.

Three Nagorno Karabakh police officers were killed as a result of an ambush by a sabotage team of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on March 5. The officers of the Passport and Visa Department of the Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh were attacked around 10:00. They were in their service vehicle at the time of the ambush. On March 6, the Russian MoD said in its daily bulletin that the attack was initiated by the Azerbaijani side. Two Azerbaijanis have been also killed, one is injured.

 15:58, 2 March 2023

YEREVAN, MARCH 2, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan held separate meetings with officers serving in a military base after his trip to the military positions on the south-eastern border.

The officers presented to the minister the routine of their service, management of the units, integration and planned trainings.

During the separate meetings with officers, Minister Papikyan inquired about the social conditions and the housing program. Papikyan called on the troops to pay extra attention to physical trainings and improve tactical skills to earn high scores in the certification exams.

The Minister called on the commanders of all units to increase the level of discipline in all circles, especially among the servicemembers on combat shift. Papikyan also highlighted morale and called on the commanders to eradicate any possible undisciplined behavior.

 15:19,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 28, ARMENPRESS. Russia is guided by the “do no harm” principle in the South Caucasus, but not all players in the region share this approach, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

“We are guided by the principle that can be described as “do no harm”, and above all the principle of contributing to resolving all emerging problems, which will first of all be based on the principled agreements of the three leaders within the framework of their four statements,” TASS quoted Lavrov as saying at a joint press conference with his Azeri counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov.

The other principle, according to Lavrov, is to ensure mutually beneficial cooperation between countries of the region based on mutual respect. “Not all players are guided by the same principles, especially those who are far from South Caucasus,” the Russian foreign minister said.

Lavrov also commented on the EU civilian mission in Armenia. According to him, the mission “raises many questions in terms of legitimacy.”

“We see how the EU is explicitly abusing its relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan, including by advancing its so-called mission in the territory of Armenia, which raises serious doubts in terms of legitimacy,” Lavrov said.

The mission “raises numerous questions”, according to the Russian FM, including “in terms of its functions, mandate and the added value that it can bring to the efforts aimed at the normalization of the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

“But it is the sovereign choice of the parties with whom to cooperate and with whom not,” FM Lavrov added.

 11:50,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan held a meeting with EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar.

Grigoryan and Klaar discussed the course of implementation of the agreements reached within the framework of the Brussels format of the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations, Grigoryan’s office said in a read-out.

Views were exchanged around issues concerning the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.

 11:35,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenia sent its proposals around a peace treaty to Azerbaijan on February 15, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.

He said that the proposals were also sent to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairing countries.

“Yesterday the Republic of Armenia completed the work of yet another stage of the draft treaty on peace and establishment of relations with Azerbaijan, and our proposals are conveyed to the Azerbaijani side. By saying proposals, we must consider the draft of the full document with our proposals. We conveyed the document to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairing countries as well,” PM Pashinyan said.

He added that the Armenian side is working on the draft treaty with the following logic: to get a document which it is ready to sign at any moment. Pashinyan added that understandably the document must be acceptable for Azerbaijan as well.

“And we hope that it will be possible to develop the certain progress observed as a result of already three rounds of negotiations. Our vision is the following, the document must contain the kind of logic of agreements, the kind of a system of checks and balances that would rule out any scenario of disrupting lasting and sustainable peace. The meaning of this is that the signing of the document must not transform – as absurd as this may sound, such scenario could happen – into a war based already on a peace treaty, but on the contrary, it should truly mean lasting peace,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan again expressed his and the government’s commitment to quickly sign a peace treaty which will become a guarantee for lasting and sustainable peace. He said he is ready to bear that responsibility.