Moscow Backs Off on Armenian Militants

MOSCOW — 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.