ArmInfo. Very soon, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will have to come up with new initiatives or at least make certain steps in the negotiation process on Artsakh. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Artsakh, Foreign Minister of Artsakh Arman Melikyan expressed this opinion to ArmInfo.
"In my opinion, the time allotted for Pashinyan to pause in the negotiation process can be considered completed. And he is expected to take action, moreover, both by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and Baku. And, in all likelihood, in order to encourage the Armenian prime minister to make these actions Azerbaijan will very soon again resort to its traditional provocation tactics, accompanied by killings and incidents on the Line of Contact, "he stressed.
Commenting in this light on the concerns of Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova about the increase in the number of border incidents, Melikyan stressed that the result of statements by the Russian Foreign Ministry would be visible only if Baku stops provocations. Otherwise, according to his estimates, the appeals of Zakharova can be assessed solely as a way to avoid accusations of indifference.
At the same time, Melikyan expressed the hope that the United States, despite the conversations that have been voiced recently, will not deprive Artsakh of financial assistance. In this light, he recalled that similar conversations took place previously, however, fortunately, they did not become a reality. On July 2, the head of the Armenian National Committee of America Aram Hamparian announced the intention of the United States to repeal the bill passed two months ago, according to which the United States will continue to provide direct financial assistance to Artsakh. The matter concern an annual $ 5 million assistance program implemented through USAID.