ANCA will continue to press for strict enforcement of Section 907 of  the Freedom Support Act

ArmInfo.The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) will continue to press for strict enforcement of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act.  

Thus, responding to US Presidential Adviser John bolton's statement on  possible cancellation of the Section 907, ANCA particularly stated:   '' ANCA will continue to press for strict enforcement of Section 907  of the Freedom Support Act, which - as a matter of law, currently  waived by the Administration - restricts certain forms of direct U.S.   assistance, including offensive military hardware, to the Azerbaijani  government. In light of Baku's escalating aggression, the ANCA calls  upon the White House to discontinue its Section 907 waivers and urges  Congress to roll back its waiver authority for this law.  Parallel to  Section 907 enforcement issues, the ANCA is carefully tracking  potential arms export control violations related to Azerbaijan,  including the third-party sourcing of sensitive U.S. equipment,  software, and services for drones and other weapons systems''.

The ANCA also stressed that, Bolton expressed openness to U.S. arms  sales to Armenia, which - almost certainly - would happen in the  context of such sales to Azerbaijan. The danger here is that  Azerbaijan, given the size of its military budget, can afford  significantly more advanced U.S. arms than Armenia - leading to  imbalances both on the battlefield and in terms of political  relationships.  Earlier, Bolton, referring to the possibility of  repealing the 907th Amendment, did not rule out that Donald Trump  could use his authority to suspend the 907th Amendment to the Freedom  Support Act, which limits US assistance to Azerbaijan at the state  level, as it was done his predecessors. "This provision was approved  by the Congress. The executive branch of government does not  necessarily follow the same political line and, according to our  Constitution, in fact it is the president who determines foreign  policy. In many cases, different presidents suspended this provision  in order to conduct procurement, and we constantly review this  opportunity to decide whether this is necessary, "he said.  Already  in Yerevan, commenting on the possible cancellation of the 907th  amendment by Donald Trump and the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan,  Bolton said in particular: "The decision to suspend has not yet been  made, and I cannot predict what it will be in terms of increasing the  sale of weapons. But such is that Armenia acquires most of its  armament from Russia, Azerbaijan also purchases more than 80% from  the Russian Federation. This circumstance, of course, does not  contribute to the settlement of the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict,  "Bolton said.  However, he stressed that this fact provides a serious  tool for influencing the parties and does not lead to peace.   According to him, Americans believe that competitiveness is the  driving force. "And our weapons are in any case better than the  Russian. I believe that we should study this issue within the  framework of our laws," concluded Bolton.  The 907th amendment was  adopted by the Congress in 1992 and prohibited the provision of  assistance to Baku along the government line by the US administration  in connection with the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. For  many years, Azerbaijani diplomacy has been seeking its abolition, but  so far unsuccessfully.