"Withdraw Snipers and Install Equipment": Ambassador Hoagland

It is time for the sides of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh to take steps for building confidence, international mediators announce. The American co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Richard Hoagland expressed hope that steps will be taken in this direction in an interview with the Voice of America. He noted that it is hard to achieve total demilitarization though it is very desirable. We must reduce the probability of military clashes, Richard Hoagland said. The ambassador lists the following steps: withdrawal of snipers from border areas and line of contact, increase the number of international observers and install special equipment. He notes that the possibility of incidents is always there when two armed sides are close to each other. The mediators have big expectations from the meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in New York which may be followed by negotiations between Presidents Sargsyan and Aliyev in fall. As to new proposals by the mediators, Ambassador Hoagland said there is a comprehensive document but there are steps and stages ahead to reach it. He extended hope that during the next high-level meeting the sides will do serious work and declare some steps even if it is impossible to achieve a lasting settlement. According to the ambassador, the cornerstone of the settlement is compromise which will demilitarize the situation and bring peace, prosperity and security for the peoples of the region. The United States continues to work with Russia over this issue, despite the aggravating relations between the two countries, he noted. According to him, nothing absolutely has changed in their work, and politicians may clash but they continue to work hand in hand. The American co-chair of the Minsk Group underlined that even under the most complicated relations between Washington and Moscow there have been spheres where they continued to work together, like in the case of the Karabakh conflict.