YEREVAN. – The international community, the [OSCE] Minsk Group co-chairing countries [Russia, US, and France] are talking more and more actively about the need for a long-term political settlement of the Karabakh [(Artsakh)] issue. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at the beginning of Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the interim government of Armenia.

"This is important, as there is an assertion that the Karabakh issue is settled. Now we can already state that the international community states that the Karabakh issue is not settled and must be settled. I want to emphasize the will of our government to go and settle the issue, as we need it to rule out war in the long run and open an era of peaceful development for the Armenian people," Pashinyan added, noting that this is a very difficult task, this needs political will, the ability to take on blows, and the need to speak openly to the public.

Despite this, he urged not to give in to illusions. "Today, the Azerbaijani armed forces have crossed the border into Armenia, and for the long process I have mentioned, it is necessary for them to leave the territory of Armenia without delay. Ideally, our view is the following that both the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces should withdraw along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border—now especially at the given sector—to their deployment locations, and that border guard services should guard along the entire length of the border. It will not be easy to go to such a solution. I want to urge the public not to give in to the provocations of the Armenia network of the Azerbaijani propaganda, and we are consistently working and will continue to work to protect the interests of Artsakh, Armenia," Pashinyan stressed.