Holding major drills ahead of Karabakh talks not constructive: Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan’s holding major drills ahead of a summit on the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is not constructive, Armenian Foreign Minister said Monday, June 20, according to Panorama.am.

The Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents Serzh Sargsyan, Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin met Monday in Saint Petersburg to address the settlement of the conflict.

“Unfortunately, Azerbaijan failed to demonstrate a constructive approach to the expansion of the team of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office,” Edward Nalbandian said.

“Azeris prevented the OSCE budget commission from providing funding necessary for the expansion of the team. In the period between the meetings in Vienna and St Petersburg Azerbaijan made a slew of declarations that fell short of being constructive.”

At the latest meeting in Russia, the sides adopted a declaration which reads:

"The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents confirmed their commitment to the implementation of agreements reached at a Vienna-hosted meeting on May 16. To that end, they have agreed to increase the number of international observers in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. Also, they expressed satisfaction that the ceasefire was now holding."

The Presidents emphasized the importance of regular meetings to resolve the issue and pledged to hold such summits regularly."