The law-enforcement agencies will institute criminal proceedings against the Azeri saboteurs and they will incur responsibility in accordance with the laws of Artsakh and international standards, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told journalists.
In this context, Ohanyan refuted the information of the Azeri news agencies, which say that the detained persons are allegedly poachers and that one of them has been in trade in Armenia for 3 years. "The detainees were conducting sabotage and intelligence activities and for these purposes Azerbaijan uses criminal groups, which are familiar with the terrain well enough. Probably, the members of the given groups accompany the Azeri saboteurs", he said. The minister is upset by the fact that some persons try to find flaws in the activities of the Defense Ministries of Armenia and Artsakh. He invites everybody to visit the place of the sabotage together with him so that everyone could see how hard the Defense Ministries' job is. "We should thank our soldiers, who were able to neutralize one and to detain two saboteurs", he stressed.
He also stressed that by taking such steps Baku is trying to influence the international community. "However, Artsakh and Armenia do not want to find themselves in an enforced military situation once again. Baku is trying to force the OSCE Minsk Group to make unilateral concessions, but the Karabakh conflict can be settled by means of a dialogue and atmosphere of confidence only", said Ohanyan.
According to the minister, the OSCE MG Co-Chairs and Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, agree with Armenia's proposal to create an atmosphere of confidence by withdrawing the snipers from the Line of Contact, stopping the sabotage attacks, launching international investigation, etc, however, Azerbaijan objects that proposal. As regards the Co-Chairs' reluctance to make harsh statements, Ohanyan said that the Co-Chairs are trying to maintain the fragile peace.
Ohanyan added that Armenia is concerned with the Russian-Azeri weapon deals. "The details of the Armenian-Russian military and technical cooperation are not always made public, however, I can assure you that the Armenian-Russian cooperation is closer than the Russian-Azeri one", he said.