The Armenian side is prepared to pull out its snipers, if the Azerbaijani side likewise expresses such readiness. Colonel Andranik Mkrtumyan—representative of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces—informed this to OSCE Chairman-in-Office field assistants Hristo Hristov and Irji Aberle, during the OSCE monitoring on Monday. 

“We are prepared to withdraw the snipers, but the Azerbaijani side is categorically against this,” Mkrtumyan recalled.  

In his words, around 2,600 Azerbaijani sniper shots were recorded in the year past, and 850 such shots already were registered in the first four months of this year. 

“We are ready to pull out the snipers, but we will not take this step unilaterally,” he stressed.    

As a result Azerbaijan’s violation of the ceasefire, five Armenian military servicemen died and seven were wounded since the beginning of 2012.