STEPANAKERT—The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, described the situation at the border of Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan as tense, referring to escalated incidents of ceasefire violations as reported by military authorities.

 

“The reports reflect a relatively high number of shooting incidents, and also of more serious violations with casualties, each of which is a tragedy for the families of the victims,” Kasprzyk said.

The OSCE representative said that his office continues to monitor the situation along the lines of contact and on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border with full support and assistance of the relevant authorities.

“As always my reports related to the ceasefire regime are received by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and the Minsk Group,” he said.

Asked whether after recent developments in Ukraine, the OSCE should pay more attention to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Kasprzyk said that it is important that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution does not fade into the background due to events elsewhere.

“The Minsk Group Co-chairs are working continuously to present ideas to the sides to move the settlement process forward. In the past month they met twice with the foreign ministers and once with both presidents and ministers,” he said.

All this work is done with the aim of moving the process forward and de-escalating tensions, according to Kasprzyk.

Kasprzyk said that he is present in the region on a constant basis.

“Me and my team continuously travel to all conflict affected areas in order to liaise with all stakeholders and ensure that I provide up-to-date information to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and the Co-chairs of the Minsk Group,” he said.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly said developments in Ukraine show the urgent need for a settlement to the Karabakh conflict. “The recent developments in Ukraine have shown that we should work hard on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and achieve progress on it soon,” said the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Speaker of the Montenegrin Parliament Ranko Krivokapic, at a press conference in Baku.