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“All the NATO allies are concerned over the increasing arms race [in South Caucasus region], with the political tension and hostilities growing in parallel to it,” James Appathurai, NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, noted at a press conference held at NATO Information Center in Armenia. The top NATO official was asked to comment on the situation of increasing armaments in the region given the fact that being one of the mediators in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russia meantime continues to sell arms to the conflicting parties, with millions of dollars worth arms being sold to Azerbaijan.

He reminded that two NATO allies are represented in the OSCE Minsk Group, and the statements and actions of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs come to show that they seek a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) conflict.

“NATO’s general policy also finds it desirable relaxing the tension and hostilities and reaching a peaceful settlement,” Mr. Appathurai said.

Asked about NATO’s position on the views over the possibility of renewed clashes in the NK conflict zone following the April flare-up, the official said: “We closely follow the developments in the region and regularly receive information. To tell the truth, currently we are highly concerned over the situation, since the frequency of armed clashes have recently increased and the military rhetoric has intensified: the situation is very disturbing. NATO is not directly engaged [in NK conflict settlement] and I cannot give comments in that respect. We have adopted a clear stance of fully supporting the Minsk Group efforts.”

Asked to comment on a reporter’s observation that as stated by himself all the NATO allies are concerned over the regional security, however Turkey regularly shows vocal support to Azerbaijan, Mr. Appathurai said that NATO is an organization that operates on the principle of common views and makes joint statements, adding “Naturally our allies have different relations with the various regional players. The important thing is regardless all those differences, all the allies accept and support the consistent, friendly and trusting relations with Armenia.”