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"The situation around Nagorno Karabakh apparently remains volatile, as evidenced by the April events in 2016," Armenia's Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters at a briefing on Thursday.  Kocharyan's remarks came in request to comment on the latest report by the Director of the U.S. National Intelligence Daniel Coats, who assessed risks of hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh in 2018.

"The sides' reluctance to compromise, Azerbaijan's steady military modernization, Armenia's acquisition of new Russian equipment sustain the risk of large-scale hostilities in 2018," part of the report related to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict read. 

In the words of the deputy minister, the Armenian sides are ready for any development. As to the sides' commitments to a negotiated settlement of the conflict, Kocharyan pointed to the latest statement of Azerbaijani president that, as he put, "clearly shows the one who is not reluctant to move forward with the negotiations."

"Let me just stress that with his latest statements the president of Azerbaijan vividly proved to those who haven't realized thus far that Karabakh can never be part of Azerbaijan and that the international recognition of the Artsakh Republic is irreversible," Kocharyan added.