Foreign Ministry is ready to organize a meeting of the ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow

The Russian side is ready to organize a trilateral meeting of foreign ministers in Moscow in the near future to discuss ways to implement the agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the highest level, including the topic of agreeing on a peace treaty. This is stated in statement Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in connection with the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh.

They noted that after the meeting in Moscow, it is possible to organize a Russian-Azerbaijani-Armenian summit, at which the parties would sign a peace treaty. Armenia, as recalled in the Foreign Ministry, previously recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the territory of Azerbaijan, and this “dramatically” changed the fundamental conditions under which the statement of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia was signed in November 2020, as well as the position of the Russian peacekeeping force stationed in the region contingent.

“We believe that under these conditions one should not shift the responsibility for the fate of the Armenian population of Karabakh to third countries. It is necessary to immediately start preparing a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan, based on the previously reached agreements,” the statement says.

The ministry emphasized that “reliable and clear guarantees of the rights and security of the Armenians of Karabakh”, as well as “strict implementation” of a set of tripartite agreements, including unblocking transport communications and launching the process of delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, should become an integral part of the agreement.

According to Moscow, the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh is now developing according to a negative scenario: the humanitarian crisis is deepening, people do not have enough food, medicine, basic necessities, the population is “practically deprived” of electricity and gas supply. The ministry called on Baku to take urgent measures to immediately unblock the Lachin corridor, resume the unhindered movement of citizens, vehicles and goods in both directions along it, as well as supply the region with energy.

The aggravation of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh has been dragging on since September 2020, when hostilities began in the region between the military of Armenia and Azerbaijan. As a result, a tripartite statement was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Hostilities have completely ceased in the conflict zone, and Russian peacekeepers have also been deployed along the line of contact and in the Lachin corridor.

The situation around Nagorno-Karabakh worsened again in 2022, when the State Border Guard Service of Azerbaijan installed a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor, on the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.