ST. PETERSBURG, June 26. /TASS/. France’s actions are not promoting an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement but rather a new round of escalation of the conflict, making the country a bad advisor to the region, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the sidelines of the 12th St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.
"It seems to me that now those who make such proposals to the region (Caucasus - TASS), and do such things as Paris does, are bad advisers who are only making trouble," the diplomat pointed out. "This is blatant rhetoric aimed at rekindling the conflict, not at a peaceful settlement. This is what French officials are saying," she said.
According to Zakharova, the intrusion into the region's affairs while refusing to take any responsibility for the consequences is par for the course for Paris. "If they (the French authorities - TASS) wanted to be responsible in resolving conflicts, they had a million opportunities. The Minsk agreements were one of them," she emphasized. However, similarly to the Ukrainian crisis situation, the Minsk agreements "turned out to be just a disguise."
"The saddest thing about it is that they (French authorities - TASS) will not bear any responsibility. People will suffer again, and they will be forced to take part in clearing the debris of another conflict. They will once again be thrown into the furnace of someone else's ambitions and foreign interests, as it has happened many times," she concluded.
At a meeting on June 17, the French and Armenian defense chiefs signed a contract envisaging selling Caesar self-propelled howitzers to Yerevan.