YEREVAN. – The acting Minister of Defense of Armenia, Vagharshak Harutyunyan, on Wednesday had a telephone conversation with the Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergey Shoygu, the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The heads of the defense ministries of the two strategic allies discussed the ways to resolve the current situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

In this connection, Harutyunyan noted that the Armenian side respects the calls of partner countries and organizations to settle this issue peacefully, adding that the position of the Armenian side is unchanged in this regard: the Azerbaijani army units must leave the sovereign territories of Armenia without any preconditions.

Vagharshak Harutyunyan and Sergey Shoygu discussed also the matter of deployment of Russian border guards jointly with the Armenian Armed Forces at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border sections of Armenia’s Syunik and Gegharkunik Provinces.

In addition, reference was made to the mission carried out by the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the Armenian-Russian cooperation in the defense sphere, as well as regional issues.