ArmInfo. Ambassador Richard Milliz, who is completing his diplomatic mission in Armenia, in an interview with EVN, speaking on the Karabakh settlement, made remarkable statements.
In particular, referring to ways to resolve the conflict, he emphasized the need to return the "occupied territories": "The settlement of the conflict is impossible without the return of a certain part of the occupied territories. The issue of the return of the occupied territories is one of the fundamental points of the Madrid principles. He expressed surprise at the fact that there is practically no public discourse on this topic in Armenia. "When I first came to Armenia, I found that most Armenians were categorically against the return of the occupied territories. It seems to me that we are taking a step back. My government believed for many years that these territories were originally taken to be later used in the framework of the formula "the land is in exchange for peace." And I was very surprised when I discovered that this formula does not find public support in Armenia, "the diplomat said. He also stressed that the April war of 2016 consolidated this position of the Armenians even more. "Now it will be much more difficult to resolve this issue, but the harsh reality is that any settlement requires the return of a certain part of the occupied territories," the diplomat said. At the same time, he stressed that the status quo no longer proceeds from the interests of Armenia, since in the context of closed borders and limited human and material resources, corruption risks increase. "Corruption is not born and thrives, because people are bad, but because there are appropriate conditions for this," the diplomat said.