U.S. ambassador regrets over Armenia’s position on Crimea referendum
20.03.2014,
11:41
U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John Heffern, expressed regret today over Armenia’s official stance on a referendum in Crimea on March 16 in which 95.5% of voters supported joining Russia.
YEREVAN, March 20. / ARKA /. U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John Heffern, expressed regret today over Armenia’s official stance on a referendum in Crimea on March 16 in which 95.5% of voters supported joining Russia.
In a telephone conversation yesterday Armenian and Russian presidents, Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin, said the referendum was another example of people’s rights to self-determination through free expression of will.
The presidents also highlighted the importance of commitment to the norms and principles of the international law, first and foremost the UN Charter.
"I regret that Armenia made such a statement," said Heffern in Yerevan during a NATO-supported conference on NATO's Partnership in the South Caucasus.
The U.S. diplomat said that NATO and the U.S. tried to find a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. Particularly, U.S. president Barack Obama and secretary of state John Keery offered numerous options in conversations with their Russian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov.
"However, Russia did not heed these proposals," said the ambassador
The two-day conference organized by the Centre for Strategic Analysis Spectrum has brought to Yerevan political analysts and experts from Azerbaijan , Georgia, USA, Russia , Turkey, Iran , UK, Spain and Belgium, to discuss regional security issues, Euro-Atlantic prospects, European and Eurasian partnership and cooperation and development trends in each of the regional countries. .-0-
