Zakaryan: Until there is a political solution to the Karabakh issue,  the Armenian armed forces must have the potential to influence the  enemy`s aggression

ArmInfo.Due to the absence of a breakthrough in the negotiation process on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, the Armenian side should be ready for periodic  exacerbations on the front line. The ARF Dashnaktsutyun announced this at the conference organized on September 4, Deputy Defense Minister Artak Zakaryan stated.

According to him, after signing the trilateral ceasefire agreement in  1994, Azerbaijan periodically violates the ceasefire regime, with the  aim of regaining control over Nagorno-Karabakh. "Baku continues to  actively arm, which indicates the intention to resolve the Karabakh  issue by force. The culmination of periodic exacerbations of the  situation in the conflict zone was last year's April war," Zakaryan  said. And in this context, he added that the Armenian armed forces  are increasing the equipment of the advanced, so that in case of need  to give an adequate response to the next adventure of the enemy.

According to him, within the framework of reforming the defense  ministry, a new concept of the consistent development of the Armenian  armed forces was adopted, which is presented in the government's  program of activities for 2017-2020. The Deputy Minister of Defense  also stated that Armenia is interacting with international partners  to enhance the skills of its own armed forces, and the interaction is  carried out within the framework of the action plan.

"We still do not exclude that various factors superimposed on each  other can force the opponent to go on another adventure, and the  Armenian side of the defense policy will have to take other active  steps. We take into account all sorts of development, proceeding from  which we carry out the training of our Armed Forces. We proceed from  the fact that as long as there is no political solution to the  Karabakh issue, we must have the capacity to influence the aggression  of the enemy, "the official said. At the same time, he added that  Armenia is pursuing a fairly wise policy, not giving Azerbaijanis a  reason to forcefully resolve the issue.

He also agreed that after the last year's April war the negotiation  process stalled. Zakaryan recalled that Armenia put forward two  important conditions for the continuation of the negotiation process  - the implementation of the agreements reached at the summits in  Vienna and St. Petersburg. "We are working hard to resolve the issue  peacefully, since the force option can not lead to a final resolution  of the issue. We hope that the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will  be able to transfer the negotiation process from the management phase  to the settlement phase, "concluded Zakaryan.