YEREVAN. – The security level of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) cannot decrease at any moment of time; it must increase every day.

Director of the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia, Artur Vanetsyan, noted about the aforesaid in response to a query by Armenpress regarding his recent visit to Artsakh.

When asked to comment on the fact that his statements made in Artsakh had become subject to broad discussion in the press, and there was even a reaction from Azerbaijan too, Vanetsyan responded as follows:

“I am a professional officer, and my job is to ensure security and to not allow any encroachment against the security system of Armenia and Artsakh; this is especially important in conditions when statements on resolving the conflict militarily, using force and the threat of force is being voiced nearly every day, at the highest levels from the neighboring country. Naturally, our security system must be ready to respond to these threats. The security level of Armenia and Artsakh cannot decrease at any moment in time; it should only increase every day, and this is what our efforts are aimed at.”

During a recent trip to Artsakh, the Armenian NSS chief had made the following statement: “At my and everyone’s objective assessment, the program that we call a ‘resettlement program’ will be the main guarantee of our country’s security because those speeches, those expressions and those people who always manipulate the subject—that [as if] they will return lands hold negotiations, concede, etc.—as a result of this program, we will give a clear message to the entire Armenian people and the whole world that we have no objective of handing back an inch of land, but on the contrary, our compatriots must live on our lands and build up our country.”