The Foreign Minister of Artsakh is convinced: Russia did not change  its position in favor of Baku during the "four-day" April war of 2016

ArmInfo. Artsakh Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan is convinced that Russia did not change its position in favor of Baku during the "four-day" April war in 2016.

"I do not think that Russia's position has changed: Russia, the  United States and France are co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and  have a coordinated position on ensuring peace in this region." As for  the April war, it should be noted that with the consent of the other  two mediators , Russia these days had a more active role in the  cessation of hostilities, which was due to the fact that only Russia  has the necessary tools to influence the parties during the  hostilities. on April 5, it was with the mediation of Russia that the  parties reached an oral agreement to cease hostilities and restore  the ceasefire regime envisaged by the 1994 agreement," Mailyan said  in an interview with the Iranian newspaper Sharg.

He noted that at different times, the activity of this or that  co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group is manifested in the peaceful  negotiation process, but it is coordinated with the other two  mediating countries.

Touching upon Russia's sale of arms to Azerbaijan, despite the OSCE  MG ban on the countries selling military products to Yerevan and  Baku, Mailyan noted that, as a rule, Western countries do not supply  arms to the parties to the Karabakh conflict. "However, within the  framework of military-technical cooperation, Russia delivers weapons  to Azerbaijan and Armenia, Russia is also a strategic ally of Armenia  and supplies it with weapons at domestic prices, cheaper than  Azerbaijan, but since Russia is Armenia's strategic ally, the sale of  arms to Azerbaijan from the moral point of view is negatively  perceived both in Armenia and Artsakh," the said.

With such an approach, one can only agree with this assumption,  Mailyan believes that Russia would be the only supplier of arms to  Azerbaijan, but it is known that Baku bought arms from Israel for  almost $ 6 million, and at the same time acquires arms from Turkey,  Pakistan, Ukraine, and Belarus. According to him, Azerbaijan in the  military-technical sphere also interacts with the South African  countries, there were also publications about the acquisition of  weapons of Czech production.

On the question of which side of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces can  suddenly attack and where the Artsakh defensive lines are located,  the NKR Foreign Minister noted that the answer to these questions is  perfectly known to the leadership of the military formations of  Azerbaijan, as well as to the intelligence structures of Artsakh.  "Our country, with the aim of strengthening defense security,  continues active work on the entire perimeter of the contact line.  The April war in 2016 demonstrated that Azerbaijan has chosen several  directions for attack. The NKR Defense Army proved that it can stop  Azerbaijan's offensive and ensure reliable protection of the country,  volunteers from Armenia and Artsakh, who considered it their duty to  participate in the defense of the Motherland, did not wait for the  announcement of a general mobilization, as well.

At the same time, he stressed that the security issues of Artsakh are  in the immediate focus of the President of the country Bako Sahakyan.  Mailyan believes that today Artsakh is stronger than it was until  April 2016 and work continues on the creation of various deterrence  mechanisms to prevent new Azeri attacks.

On the clarifying question whether there are any proofs of  participation of the Turkish military in the April war, the NKR  Foreign Minister stated that it is not a secret for anyone that Baku  and Ankara allies that cooperate closely in the military and  military-technical fields often conduct joint military exercises in  including in the territory of Nakhijevan. "It's not a secret that  there are many Turkish military attaches in the Azerbaijani army, and  Azerbaijani officers are trained mainly in Turkey, so it is possible  that Turkey played a role during the April war," Mailyan said.