Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The issue of Armenia's hiding and piling up nuclear arms in the occupied territories will be discussed in the next international summit on nuclear security which will be held in the Netherlands in May.

The news was announced by Global Forecasting Director of Economist Intelligence Unit Leo Abruzzese at a news conference in the National Press Club of Washington to release the 2014 NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index.

He made the remarks is answer to a question regarding the possibility that Armenia could hide and pile up nuclear arms in the uncontrolled territories of the Nagorno-Karabakh, AzerTag news agency reported.

Abruzzese said such a problem exists, because the organization generates data and gives estimation to countries in accordance with collected and accessible information under 56 criteria of the program of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

He noted that where uncontrolled territories are concerned, it is impossible to get information, because there are no authorities in those territories and no conformity with international conventions, since the potential risk of piling up materials in uncontrolled territories exists.

Abruzzese said the issue remains pressing and it will possibly be discussed in the next international summit on nuclear security in the Netherlands.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

Armenia received a positive estimation in the Index for its cooperation on elimination of nuclear weapons, but no one can guarantee that this country is not hiding and piling up nuclear arms in the uncontrolled territories of the Nagorno-Karabakh.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.