ARMENPRESS. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov made a comment on the results of trilateral talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan.
ARMENPRESS report, citing the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the comment reads as follows,
“Today we held productive talks with our colleagues: the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan J.A.Bayramov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia A.S.Mirzoyan.
First, two rounds of bilateral Russian-Azerbaijani and Russian-Armenian negotiations were organized. We discussed the state of our bilateral relations and outlined further steps to implement the agreements reached at the highest levels. Then the three of us met to discuss the regional agenda, primarily with regard to the situation in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
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We presented to our interlocutors the assessments of the Russian side, taking into account the reports made by the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, the steps that it is highly desirable to take promptly, without delay in the interests of providing the population of Karabakh with food, medicine, basic necessities, and ensuring uninterrupted electricity and gas supply. This is in the interests of ordinary people, Armenians, residents of the region.
Russia, as a key mediator in the peace process since the signing of the trilateral declaration of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on November 9, 2020, is interested in resolving the crisis as soon as possible in full accordance with the tripartite statements that the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia adopted in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
We spoke about another important provision of these agreements. I mean ensuring unhindered movement, unblocking transport and economic communications throughout the region.
Particular attention was paid to the issues of delimitation, which are closely related to the entire set of issues under discussion, and the issues of the early conclusion of a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan.
We hope that the signing of that treaty will be the culmination of the large-scale negotiation process, which will bring to end the efforts of Armenians and Azerbaijanis initiated during their tripartite meetings with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
The path is not easy. There are many complex and important issues to be resolved. The most sensitive of them was and remains the issue of guaranteeing the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in the context of ensuring the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in full accordance with the 1991 Declaration signed by the leaders of the former Soviet republics in Alma-Ata. Its effectiveness has been confirmed today by both the Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership. The work on the peace treaty is being built in accordance with this.
The Armenian side understands the need to convince the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to meet as soon as possible with Azerbaijani representatives to agree on the rights arising from the relevant legislation and from international obligations (in this case, of Azerbaijan), including numerous conventions on ensuring the rights of national minorities.
The Azerbaijani side is ready to provide the same guarantees on a reciprocal basis with respect to persons living on its territory. Armenians are ready to do the same with respect to the application of all conventions to citizens residing in the Republic of Armenia.
The issues are not easy. I hope that today’s discussions will help give a positive impetus to the negotiation process in these and other areas. The closest result at this stage is the achievement of an agreement in a trilateral working group headed by three deputy prime ministers who are engaged in agreeing on specific issues of unblocking transport communications in the region. In this context, prospects will also open up for the implementation of promising projects in the transport sector, which already have not only a regional, but also a wider character.
We agreed to try to resume the dialogue along the second “track” between representatives of civil society and political experts. We also hope (we proposed this today) to start a trilateral dialogue through parliamentarians.
We hope that the negotiation process will continue. We understand the interest of both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides to rely on mediators not only in the person of the Russian Federation, but also others. We welcome the desire of those who are sincerely interested in helping Baku and Yerevan find agreements, who, like us, are working in this direction. But there should be no attempts to artificially impose certain agreements not based on the interests of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples, but for the sake of beautiful headlines in the media, for the sake of geopolitical and domestic political considerations.
Our colleagues thanked us for this initiative. We will continue vigorous work on preparing further meetings, and there are plans to hold another summit of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia this year.”