Yesterday President of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation, Head of Armenia's Mission to OSCE, Ambassador Armen Papikyan chaired the session of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation devoted to regional security structures, with emphasis on the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), as reported the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Opening the session, Papikyan underscored the importance of cooperation of various regional organizations dealing with security issues and the combination of efforts to lead an effective fight against the growing challenges. From this perspective, Ambassador Papikyan stated that the similar goals of the OSCE and the CSTO for the strengthening of security, stability and peace serve as a ground for cooperation between the two institutions in order to strengthen security in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasia region.

Papikyan presented to the member states of the OSCE the gross violations of international humanitarian law that the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan committed during the war that Azerbaijan unleashed against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) through the involvement of Turkey and foreign terrorists in 2020, including deliberate and systematic targeting of the civilian population and infrastructures, the use of cluster munitions and chemical weapons and the destruction of the cultural heritage in Artsakh. Papikyan also stated that Armenian prisoners of war and hostages remain in captivity, adding that this is a gross violation of international humanitarian law.

The Ambassador also called the participating states’ attention to the infiltration of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan into the sovereign territory of Armenia and the inadmissibility of their provocative actions, as a result of which one soldier of the Armed Forces of Armenia has been killed and six servicemen have been captured.