“The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister of Armenia spoke about sending an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor to assess the humanitarian situation there. Is France going to send a fact-finding mission? And do you see an opportunity for France to replace the Russian peacekeepers?” a similar question was posed to the President of the French National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, in a briefing with journalists at the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.
She mentioned: “The first EU observation group was able to deploy along the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Hopefully, we will be able to appeal to Europe again to bring another mission. Discussions are ongoing. France supports this position, but every member state must agree. France does not replace the EU, the border between the two countries. As for the fact-finding mission, I don’t know if there was such a request from the RA authorities. When there was a request from Ukraine, we responded and sent many experts, but I don’t know if Armenia made such a request to the EU or France.”
The journalist corrected the question, stating it was about sending a fact-finding team to the Lachin corridor. NA Speaker Alen Simonyan said. “If I’m not mistaken, Azerbaijan’s consent is also needed for this. In this case, we can only be grateful to France. We need France as a mediator, not as a party. France does everything to bring peace to the region and protect the interests of Armenia.” Yael Brown-Pieve did not add anything. To another question: is France ready to provide military support to Armenia, the Speaker of the National Assembly of France answered: “You know, I’m the Speaker of the National Assembly, not the Prime Minister or the President, so I can’t say.”
To the question: What else should Aliyev do so that France at least applies sanctions, Yaël Braun-Pivet answered: “We play the role of a mediator in the conflict and are extremely active. We appealed to the United Nations twice and initiated the Prague meeting so that the EU would also play a role. We are active and do not limit ourselves to announcements. I think this is the right way.” Yaël Braun-Pivet answered the following question: if Aliyev resorts to military operations, will France turn from a mediator into a supporter of Armenia? “I don’t answer such questions that are speculative.”
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Luiza Sukiasyan
