Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan spoke to Die Presse, a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria.

To the remark that there is harsh criticism among the Armenian society and with respect to the role of Russia which sells weapons to the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Kocharyan responded, in particular: “We [i.e. the Armenian side] understand what is happening, and we have every reason to be unhappy. Russia says if it does not sell it [i.e. the weaponry], someone else will do it. I favor a complete arms embargo for all the conflicting parties in the region. The three [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)] Minsk Group Co-Chair countries—US, Russia, and France—can achieve this at the UN Security Council.”

To the observation that Russia has launched a new mediation initiative, and to the query as to whether Moscow is truly an ally of Armenia, the Deputy FM specifically said: “Russia is a mediator in the conflict; it will have to maintain balance. (…) It is our [i.e. Armenia’s] ally, but it also has its own interests in connection with Azerbaijan. It will always tend to keep the balance in the South Caucasus, in the zone of its interests.”