YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. Defense minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan on February 21 received the delegation led by Toivo Klaar – EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, the ministry told Armenpress.

The defense minister highly appreciated the Armenia-EU relations and welcomed Toivo Klaar’s appointment as the EU Special Representative. He attached importance to the EU’s balanced position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and political support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs which is clearly reflected in the Armenia-EU framework agreement.

Toivo Klaar in his turn highlighted the EU’s stance on solving the NK conflict exclusively through peaceful negotiated means.

By the request of the guest the defense minister introduced the current situation in the state border and the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact, as well as touched upon the recent militaristic statements of the Azerbaijani military-political leadership, stating that such behavior in no way contributes to the conflict’s peaceful settlement. “Mmaking such statements doesn’t require a great wisdom, quite the contrary, the absence of wisdom contributes to a provocation propaganda with irreversible consequences for their own people”, minister Vigen Sargsyan said. Both officials highlighted the proper reaction of the international community to such statements.

During the meeting they also discussed a number of issues relating to the Armenia-EU partnership agenda, as well as regional security issues.

English – translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan