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Second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan believes that the mandate of the Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) should be “open-ended”.

“The mandate has a time restriction. Nobody knows what will come next. The uncertainty over the future mandate of the peacekeepers is the biggest problem. I believe it would be better to make the mandate open-ended without any timeframes specified,” Kocharyan said in an interview with several Russian media outlets on Tuesday.

He underlined that if four and a half years later Azerbaijan opposes the presence of Russian peacekeepers, according to the November 9 statement, they will have to withdraw from Artsakh.

The ex-president said all plans in Karabakh are limited by this period. “People are not able to plan their future. It raises a lot of questions and causes great anxiety," he said.

Assessing the effectiveness of the peacekeeping forces’ mission, Kocharyan highlighted the absence of major clashes since their deployment as a “sign of respect” for the Russian peacekeeping mission by the sides.

"The peacekeeping mission apparently works in such a way to earn the respect," the former president said.