Vladimir Putin will receive the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on May 25

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will hold a meeting in Moscow on May 25 through the mediation of Vladimir Putin. The Armenian Prime Minister stated this on May 18 at a government meeting. The broadcast was conducted on the ArmenPress YouTube channel. The visit is planned for the next round of negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the draft peace treaty. Before the meeting of the heads of state in the Russian capital, talks between Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan are also scheduled for May 19, according to a press release from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. This was confirmed by Pashinyan.

The last time the heads of Armenia and Azerbaijan met with Putin was on October 31 in Sochi. In the Russian capital, according to the Armenian prime minister, he plans to discuss with Aliyev the issue of returning prisoners who have been in an Azerbaijani prison since the end of the second Karabakh war in November 2020. According to the Armenian authorities, there are about 80 of them in total. “At the Brussels tripartite meeting, some understanding was formed regarding the release of detainees, clarification [судьбы] missing,” Pashinyan said.

The previous round of negotiations between the heads of state of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place on May 14 in the Belgian capital with the mediation of the President of the European Council Charles Michel. Commenting on the results of the meeting, he announced that the parties had made progress on several important aspects of the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. In particular, both politicians reaffirmed their adherence to the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, according to which the states recognized each other’s territorial integrity within Soviet borders. They also agreed to continue the dialogue on the restoration of transport communications and economic ties, blocked in the early 1990s. In addition, Michel called on Baku, together with the international community, “to make efforts to ensure the rights and security of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Prior to that, from May 1 to 4, the heads of the foreign affairs departments of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Washington through the mediation of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. But they ended in vain.

In addition, Pashinyan announced on May 18 that he was ready to unblock communications in the region as soon as possible “based on the principles of sovereignty and legitimacy of the parties.” He also called the recognition in Brussels by Armenia and Azerbaijan of each other’s territorial integrity within the administrative borders of the Soviet republics an important step. This, according to Pashinyan, will establish stability in the region and come to the signing of a peace treaty. At the same time, he stressed the importance of starting a dialogue between Baku and the authorities of the unrecognized republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.

A new round of negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan is taking place against the backdrop of another escalation of clashes on the line of contact between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Stanislav Pritchin, senior researcher at the Center for Post-Soviet Studies at the IMEMO RAS, noted. “All previous rounds of negotiations on the western track have not led to a reduction in tension. Against this background, the consent of the heads of state to hold talks in Moscow came as a surprise to me. Most likely, the parties realized that without the resumption of dialogue, the situation could lead to another local conflict,” the expert said.

According to Pritchin, the Western approach to peacekeeping, unlike the Russian one, involves the conclusion of a framework agreement, but without pronouncing the complex details that require permission. “First of all, these are mechanisms for ensuring the rights and security of the Armenians of Karabakh, unblocking transport corridors, delimitation of borders. For its part, Moscow prefers a comprehensive solution to the problem within the framework of the roadmap described in the tripartite statement in 2020. Russia is seeking the conclusion of a peace treaty filled with real content, ”the expert believes.

One of the topics of the upcoming talks will also be the problem of the Lachin corridor and the Azerbaijani checkpoint installed on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on April 23, continues Pritchin. “I doubt that the parties will reach mutual understanding on this issue. The fact is that Baku installed it on its internationally recognized border. And the mandate of the Russian peacekeepers does not provide for the implementation of passport and customs control on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. For some time, this will cause protests from the Armenian side,” Pritchin concluded.