Armenia FM holds phone talks with Russian counterpart, OSCE envoyApril 2, 2016 - 17:05 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on Saturday, April 2, held telephone talks with his Russian counterpart, the EU Special Representative, the OSCE Minsk-Group Co-chairs, as well as the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, Tigran Balayan tweeted. Also, the Ministry strictly condemned the Azerbaijani armed forces’ military actions on the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact and the border with Armenia. “Azerbaijan flagrantly violates multiple calls of the international community to resolve the conflict through negotiations,” the Ministry said in a statement. On the night of April 1-2, Azerbaijani armed forces initiated overt offensive operations in the southern, southeastern and northeastern directions of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh, using artillery, armored fighting vehicles and air force equipment among other weapons. Aside from the battles on the frontline, the rival has also carried out artillery strikes on civilian settlements and places of permanent deployment of several military units. On April 2, at around 8:30 am, the rival used BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher in the Martuni direction of the contact line. 12-year-old Vaghinak Grigoryan was killed in the shelling, two more children were wounded. Earleir, the Nagorno Karabakh special forces identified an Azerbaijani subversive group near the Levonarkh settlement and threw the saboteurs back to their positions. According to Armenia’s Defense Ministry, the rival troops retreated after suffering several human losses. Related links: Top stories David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. From September 21 to November 11, a total of 2,820 Russians registered at a place of residence in Armenia, the police has said. The situation on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan was relatively stable overnight, the Defense Army says. Partner news | Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. |