During a telephone conversation with "Hetq", Vitaly Balasanyan, an NKR parliamentary deputy and former deputy defense minister, stated that the OSCE Minsk Group had run out of steam and exhausted its activities. He declared that the Minsk Group had no influence on Armenia, Karabakh or Azerbaijan. He pointed to the Minsk Group's silence regarding ceasefire violations along the borders. Mr. Balasanyan also noted that no environmental measures were being taken under Minsk Group auspices to stem the harmful effects that insects and gnawing animals wreck on the local landscape. "The Minsk Group doesn't bring to the negotiations table issues that directly impact the populace of Karabakh. As a result the people have lost confidence in the organization," Mr. Balasanyan said. He added that the Minsk Group process had ground to a halt because it is based on the Madrid Principles and that these are unacceptable to the Karabakh side. Mr. Balasanyan said that the time had come to change the format of the talks and that with the mediation of the United States and Europe an agreement must be reached to bring peace to the volatile Caucasus.