OSCE MG`s resumed activities to cause further border escalation -  Stepan Safaryan

ArmInfo.The OSCE Minsk Group's resumed activities to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will, beyond doubt, escalate the border tension caused due to Azerbaijani  President Ilham Aliyev's efforts, Stepan Safaryan of the Armenian  Institute of International and Security Affairs told ArmInfo. 

"This is my opinion of the risks of this process. And the agencies  responsible for Armenia's national security must perfectly realize  it. This outlook is by no means dependent on the disagreements  between the OSCE MG co-chairs, which have become much sharper since  the end of the 44-day war. It is clear, the USA and France could by  no means applaud Russia's provisional plan on Artsakh," he said. 

As regards the Azerbaijani aggression on the border in Armenia's  Gegharkunik region on January 11, which claimed the lives of three  Armenian soldiers, Mr Safaryan stressed he expected such  developments.  First of all, in view of the statement by the foreign  ministers of the OSCE MG co-chairing countries late last year. That  statement served as a basis for such a conclusion, with relevant risk  assessments.   

According to Mr Safaryan, although not specifically addressed, the  statement by Antony Blinken, Sergey Lavrov and Jean-Yves Le Drian was  a rather strong-worded one and primarily addressed to President Ilham  Aliyev - particularly, the part of the statement underlining a need  for the OSCE MG co-chairs' return to the region, and not only to  Yerevan and Baku. And the conflicting parties should welcome this  need. In response, the Azerbaijani dictator threatened to prevent the  co-chairs' work.  

"If we remember the frosty reception Aliyev gave to the co-chairs  during their first visit to Baku after the 44-day war, we can  understand that Washington and Paris are fed up with his behavior.  And now that the co-chairs are preparing to visit the region Aliyev,  by means of his statements and murders on the border, is  demonstrating he is not at all waiting for either the December agenda  or the co-chairs themselves. Thus, the developments on our border are  part of the Aliyev-OSCE MG confrontation." Mr Safaryan said.