The delegation led by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial today to pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.
The Russian Prime Minister laid flowers at the eternal fire and respected the memory of the victims with a minute of silence.
Dmitry Medvedev later visited the Memory Alley and watered the fir tree he planted in 2008.
Azerbaijan distorts the essence of the Karabakh conflict, presenting it as a territorial dispute, NKR President Bako Sahakyan told a press a conference in Stepanakert.
“We are struggling for our Motherland, not territories,” the President said.
Bako Sahakyan said it’s impossible to reach a final solution to the conflict without the official participation of Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiation process. He said it’s not connected with mistrust in Armenia, which represents Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations.
“Armenia has a strategic docmenet, which clearly mentions that it is the guarantor of Nagorno Karabakh’s security,” Bako Sahakyan said. He added, however, that there is no conflict in the world that could be solved without the participation of the main role-player.
“Inititiually there was no conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it was a conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Armenia was later artificially dragged into it,” Bako Sahakyan said.
“I am grateful to the global community for the relative peace that lasted until April 2, but I have expressed my dissatisfaction that the format of the negotiations is flawed and it is not allowing to achieve real progress in the settlement process,” Sahakyan said.
The President added that “he would like to see interest in Artsakh not only during military actions, but also in peacetime. “We have chosen the path of determining our future, committed to the principles of democracy. We want to be a full-fledged participant of the international community,” Bako Sahakyan said.
Thirty-six Armenian soldiers have been killed since the start of large-scale military actions launched by Azerbaijan the night of April 2, Colonel Victor Arustamyan, Head of the operative department of the NKR Defense Army, told a press conference today.
The rival continue violating the ceasefire today, as a result of which a Defense Army soldier was wounded.
A drone of the Azerbaijani armed forces was shot down, Col. Arustamyan said.
As for the missing, he said search works continue. The Defense Army has provided completed data to the International Committee of the Red Cross..
NKR Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General Levon Mnatsakanyan had a meeting with OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs James Warlick, Igor Popov and Pierre Andrieu. Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk was present at the meeting.
The Defense Minister referred to the recent developments along the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan and presented undeniable proofs of Azerbaijani military aggression, particularly the inhumane crimes committed against the civilian population.
The Co-Chairs, in turn, reiterated the importance of solving the issue through peaceful negotiations and discussed the future steps to be implemented in that direction.
Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev agreed new tariffs on the Russian natural gas supplied to Armenia, Abrahamyan said on Thursday after completion of talks.
“We thoroughly discussed reduction of prices for supplies of Russian natural gas to Armenia,” Abrahamyan said. An agreement reached “was fixed by signing the relevant document,” he added.
“We agreed energy issues, including natural gas supply, which is definitely critical to ensure stable energy consumption in Armenia and normal development of the Republic of Armenia on the whole,” Russian Prime Minister said in his turn.
The natural gas price for Armenia will be reduced from $165 to $150 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of 2016.
The Karabakh forces have destroyed another Azerbaijani military drone today, the NKR Defense Ministry informs.
On 7 April Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov (Russian Federation), Pierre Andrieu (France), James Warlick (USA), personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.
The meeting addressed issues related to the large-scale military operations launched Azerbaijan against the Artsakh Republic.
President Sahakyan called the treacherous aggression of Azerbaijani as one of the greatest perils to stability and peace in the South Caucasus and the neighboring regions, qualifying it a serious challenge to the civilized world too.
Bako Sahakyan underlined that the Artsakh Defense Army averted and would always rebuff any encroachment on our republic’s independence, sovereignty and security, adding that he expected from OSCE Minsk Group tough and targeted response and steps towards the destructive policy of Azerbaijan.
Lusine Avanesyan
Public Radio of Armenia
Stepanakert
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs discussed with the Karabakh authorities the steps towards the stabilization of the current situation, Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group said after talks with the political and military leadership of Nagorno Karabakh
He said they discussed the issue in Baku yesterday. “We’ll later leave for Yerevan, where we will meet with the President, the Foreign Minister and the Defense Minister,” Popov said.
Before arriving in Yerevan, the Minsk Group Co-Chairs will meet with representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Co-Chairs did not respond to any questions and said they would sum up the results of the meeting at a press conference in Yerevan on April 9.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will visit Moscow on April 8 to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s press service announced Wednesday.
“Nalbandian will leave for Moscow on April 8 where a meeting is planned with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,” the press service said.
The same day the Armenian Foreign Minister will participate in the sitting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers.
“The military actions launched by Azerbaijan unprecedented not only after the 1994 ceasefire, but also in comparison with the first Artsakh War because of several factors,” Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said at the government sitting today.
“The actions were unprecedented first of all for the density of firing, the types of the weapons and military equipment used, the number of troops involved and the great number of losses,” the Minister said. He added that the number of Azerbaijani casualties considerably exceed those of the Armenian side.
He also emphasized the high combat readiness of the conflicting parties, and the fact of terrorists fighting on the Azerbaijani side at different sections of the line of contact and their aggressive actions.
The Armenian Defense Minister said, however, that Azerbaijan achieved nothing as a result and turned town the Azeri reports of having conquered several Armenian settlements. “Talish and Nor Seysulan villages are under Karabakh control,” he said.
The Minister said the agreement on ceasefire has been reached on the level of the General Staffs of the armed forces of the two parties.
Seyran Ohanyan added that the actions of the Azerbaijani side, including torture and decapitation, amount to war crime.