The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs were saying that the monitoring of the oversight mechanisms needs to be approved as soon as possible, and the Armenian side is not against it, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan told Armenian journalists on the way back from Vienna.

He stated this reflecting on the results  of Monday’s meeting, in the Austrian capital city, between the Armenian and the Azerbaijani delegations, and with the foreign ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries (Russia, US, and France).

In his words, the powers and staff of the Personal Representative to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office will increase.

“The sooner the better, since mutual accusations don’t help the cause,” Sargsyan stressed. “A clear proof is needed, and we [i.e. the Armenian party in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] will be in an advantageous position because we are never the first to violate [the ceasefire], since we never need that.

“We were not in the seekers’ status in the violation of the monitoring regime; I just added to the co-chairs’ proposal to form a monitoring system. So, if Azerbaijan disagreed, they would have objected. There was no precondition for establishing the monitoring.”

To note, the FMs of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries have issued a joint statement on the results of the aforesaid multilateral meeting in Vienna.