News - Kostanyan on not allowing EU observers to visit Nerkin Hand: There should be a proportionate response

On behalf of the government, I can say that decisions should be taken by the Armenian Cabinet of Ministers, as well as relevant departments, and if there were actions contradicting this, they should be given a proportionate response. Vahan Kostanyan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, said this, referring to the fact that the Russian FSB forces do not allow the EU observers to pass to the Nerkin Hand section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Earlier NEWS.am reported that during yesterday's press conference, the head of the EU observation mission in Armenia, Markus Ritter, said that their mission can visit the entire territory of Armenia, except for the Nerkin Hand region, which is in the area of responsibility of the Russian FSB. When asked about the justification for not allowing EU observers into Nerkin Hand, he said, "This question should be asked to the Russian side. In Armenia we are in the status of a guest, as a hosting party. Armenia should deal with this issue, because we do not communicate with the Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in Armenia." Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan, speaking about the latest incident in Nerqin Khand, noted that the EU mission has no access to this section, only Russian forces are present there, which failed to stop the incident, and the Armenian side lost 4 people.   EU mission has access to all other sections of the border, but this does not prevent Azerbaijan from refusing to withdraw its occupation forces and periodically violate the ceasefire.