Moscow Pledges Not to Use Force to Disarm Armenian Militants

The Kremlin has pledged not to use force against thousands of armed militants in Armenia and instead will let authorities in the southern Soviet republic try to disarm those paramilitary groups, the new president of Armenia said Thursday.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, President Levon Ter-Petrosyan also said it is time to “expand state sovereignty” of his republic, and that he is ready to negotiate with neighboring Azerbaijan over the bitter dispute involving control of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ter-Petrosyan, who was sworn in as Armenia’s president last weekend, is in Moscow to discuss Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s July 25 decree ordering armed groups in Armenia to disband within 15 days.

He said had “positive” talks on Wednesday with Prime Minister Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, Soviet Interior Minister Vadim V. Bakatin and KGB chief Vladimir A. Kryuchkov.

Gorbachev, trying to quell violence in this ethnically diverse nation, had threatened to send in army and Interior Ministry troops to forcibly disarm the militants.

Many militants, especially those in the volunteer Armenian Nationalist Army, the largest paramilitary group, have refused to comply. Armenia’s Parliament, which this week is considering a declaration of independence, rejected Gorbachev’s decree as interference.

Ter-Petrosyan said Thursday that he has been given assurances by senior officials, including Interior Minister Bakatin, that the deadline for handing over weapons would be extended.

“We have an agreement that we will be able to carry out the decree freely with our own forces without intervention from outside,” the Armenian leader said. “We have a strict agreement. They will not send in any troops.

“As regards the deadlines, we talked about the fact that I am a new leader of the republic and I cannot be held responsible for the sins of the previous leadership,” Ter-Petrosyan told reporters.

He also said that Armenia’s Parliament was in control of the Armenian Nationalist Army. But it was unclear whether the republic’s new leadership wields much influence over the paramilitary group.

Ter-Petrosyan, whose statements marked an easing of tension between Armenia and the Kremlin, stressed that the main goal for Armenia is “to expand state sovereignty and radically democratize social life.”

However, he also said that it is possible for Armenia to have good relations with its traditional enemies--the Muslim Azerbaijanis, Turks and Iran--and that he is ready to open talks with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly Armenian enclave that is part of Azerbaijan.

Ethnic battles between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over who should control the mountainous region have killed more than 200 people in the past two years.