The Armenian side must take more active measures – Sergey Minasyan

“Azerbaijan takes all possible and impossible steps to hinder the involvement of external forces in Artsalkh. The thing refers not only to political, but also to the economic sphere representatives,” Political scientist, Deputy Director of the Caucasus Institute Sergey Minasyan expressed such an opinion during an interview with Panorama.am turning to the fact of launching criminal cases against the foreign companies operating in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic) by the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office.

“Naturally that country will attempt to find out certain legal “grounds”, to impose sanctions against the foreign companies; however that trick of Azerbaijani will only impact those states with which the country has business interactions. They will not be forgiven. However Azerbaijan has few leverages on other countries and those states will face no problems,” our interlocutor said.

Sergey Minasyan noted that by opening criminal cases against the foreign companies operating in NKR Azerbaijan tries to test the vigilance of the international community and to see to what extent its whims will be tolerated.

“The Armenian side must actively cooperate particularly with those companies which face criminal charges by the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office. There are simply no other leverages to stop the vicious practice of Azerbaijan,” the political scientist said.

No note, on March 4, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan launched criminal cases against the directors of the companies from Switzerland, Bulgaria, Uruguay, Argentina, Romania and a number of other states that conduct operations in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The list includes such companies as Switzerland's Haik Watch and Jewelry Co, Bulgaria's Rodino Haskovo JIC, Uruguay's Centro Ceibal, Argentina's Deccan Gold Mines Ltd and Cosmote Romanian Mobile Telecommunications S.A. According to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office, in the period of 1999‐2017 the directors of the above-mentioned companies, as well as other representatives allegedly illegally crossed the state border of Azerbaijan from the Armenian side.