The OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andronicus Azubalis’s statement on withdrawal of snipers from the line of contact between  Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces, is barking up the wrong tree, Chairman of the Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs Committee, Armenian Parliament, MP from Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) Hrayr Karapetyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He stressed the OSCE head’s call is not justified, as Azerbaijan refused flatly the Armenian side’s proposal to remove snipers from the frontline.

“However, the Presidents’ meeting in Sochi gave a positive coloring to the issue. Consequently, the OSCE should address both Armenian and Azerbaijani sides. According to him, the recent incidents in the line of contact indicated Azerbaijan continues to use snipers to escalate the situation in the conflict zone. “The evidence thereof is the March 17 incident in the contact line of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces,” Karapetyan emphasized.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, on March 18, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andronicus Azubalis stated at the joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian that it would be good if the Armenian side unilaterally removed snipers from the line of contact as a gesture of goodwill.