NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative says situation in the region gives ground for concern

NATO member-states are concerned about the increase of armaments in the South Caucasus region, which is accompanied by increased political tensions and displays of hostility – James Appathurai, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia, told journalists during his visit to Yerevan on 12 June.

As he pointed out, two NATO allies are members of the OSCE Minsk Group and their activity is directly aimed at finding peaceful solutions to the Karabakh conflict.

“We are closely monitoring the security situation. We regularly get updates from our Georgian office which is in charge of this region. There are currently more grounds for concern, since more bellicose statements have been made, and there have been reports of casualties. Our clear position in this regard is to support the OSCE Minsk Group,” Appathurai stated.

James Appathurai also commented on the NATO-Russia relations. In his words, NATO intends to engage in a comprehensive dialogue with the Russian Federation. At the same time, he stated that  NATO was going to deploy two additional units in the Baltic states and Poland. As he pointed out, the matter concerned the deployment of 1,000 peacekeepers per base, that wouldn’t pose any threat to Russia and ‘wouldn’t disturb it’.