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Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan says Ambassador Andrea Wiktorin’s remarks that both Armenia and Azerbaijan should withdraw their troops from border areas are unclear.

Speaking about the Armenia-Azerbaijan talks held in Brussels on Sunday, Wiktorin, head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, said: “It is our hope that both sides withdraw their troops and that everybody is then really going into the work of delimitation and demarcation.”

When asked to clarify what she meant by saying “both sides withdraw their troops”, the EU envoy said: “It is stated that there are one or two spots where also Armenian forces are, let’s say, in the border region. And you need to have clear delimitation and demarcation. This was the general wording used in Brussels.”

“It’s also unclear for me what the statement is about. But, most likely, it’s about the first war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Perhaps it should be viewed from this perspective. But I also find it difficult to say what exactly it means,” he said.

The diplomat alleged the statement was part of an accepted format to always address both sides. “But it is obvious here for everyone that it is about the withdrawal of troops from Armenian territory at this point, which has been addressed by the EU, the U.S. and other partners,” Hovhannisyan said.