Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today held phone talks with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the initiative of the latter.

Prime Minister Pashinayn emphasized that Armenia highly appreciates the Secretary-General’s ongoing attention towards peace and security in the South Caucasus, presented the tension caused by the provocations made by Azerbaijan in the direction of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border and emphasized that those actions were launched contrary to the Secretary-General’s call to declare a global ceasefire during the pandemic.

“I assure you that Armenia did everything possible to put an end to the military operations and reduce the tension,” Pashinyan stated.

Touching upon Azerbaijan’s violations of the agreements reached for termination of military operations, Pashinyan added that in this period we are witnessing the mutually exclusive statements and actions of Azerbaijan’s military and political leadership.

“Armenia understands that the situation in Azerbaijan is grave, but we can’t become hostage to the trap of President Aliyev. For years, the hatred against Armenians and the threat of war had created an illusion of excellence in the military, but now we see that it was false. We are not sure if Azerbaijan’s leadership has the ability or desire to maintain the ceasefire and prevent the provocative rhetoric,” Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to a peaceful settlement and emphasized that, in the current situation, what is strictly important is the expansion of capacities of the OSCE monitoring and implementation of the agreements.

The UN Secretary-General expressed concern about the tension in the region and emphasized the importance of immediate actions to ease the tension, including through the implementation of agreements targeted at the strengthening of the ceasefire regime. Guterreas also reaffirmed his support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship.