Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan today announced that no soldiers drafted in Armenia will be sent to Artsakh and that the process of returning units sent to Artsakh during the war will be completed by September.

Grigoryan told ArmenPress that the move was logical given the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh.

He said the Artsakh Defense Army (ADA) remains and that it will continue to draft soldiers from within its borders.

Grigoryan said the ADA had always assumed the security of Karabakh and that the deployment of Russian peacekeepers is an added guarantee.

Grigoryan's remarks follow comments made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev last week that Armenia had not fulfilled its obligation to pull its troops from Karabakh.

"Armenia, as the defeated party in the war, has undertaken obligations, which are clearly stipulated in the November 10 statement. One of them is the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from Karabakh. However, this has not been done so far. We have repeatedly raised this issue, but Armenia is procrastinating," Aliyev said.