The statement made in the Armenian capital city Yerevan by Eric Rubin, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, was not a reaction to the case of Azerbaijani killer Ramil Safarov, Oxford University Professor and South Caucasus expert Neil MacFarlane told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“The US remains committed to the OSCE Minsk Group format for more than twenty years, and no one has shown willingness to replace the Minsk format,” MacFarlane stated.     

In his view, the Safarov case plays a huge role in this context, albeit it is clear that numerous international community representatives were “disappointed” by official Baku’s conduct, and this is not surprising.

To note, during his visit to Armenia, Eric Rubin called upon the Nagorno-Karabakh issue’s conflicting parties to remain committed to the current negotiation format.  

Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier that Ramil Safarov, a lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on August 31 from Hungary, where he was serving a life sentence—and with no expression of either regret or remorse—for the premeditated axe murder of Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during a NATO Partnership for Peace program in Budapest back in 2004.

As expected, Ramil Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as was his act of murder, by the officials of president Ilham Aliyev’s government and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani president immediately granted him a pardon.

And Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31 that Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary.    

Ramil Safarov’s pardoning is condemned by virtually all international organizations.