Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a statement at a joint press conference with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, stating that Russian peacekeepers are working every hour to settle the situation in the Lachin Corridor and are in contact with the parties.
“We are in favor of the position that transport communication should be restored as soon as possible, and disagreements related to the exploitation of mines, which have been inherited from the USSR years, should be resolved, and the aggravation of the issue should be eliminated. We assume that all parties must strictly follow the 2020 agreement signed by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, to the obligations of the November 9 declaration, which refer to movement through the Lachin Corridor itself, and as far as I understand, our Azerbaijani partners have the same position,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov assured that the Russian Federation, more than any other party, is interested in a stable, just peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and prevention of incidents. “The most optimal development of the process would be the start of the border delimitation process, which is being worked on by the trilateral commission. The parties agreed that it will work with Russian advisory support. It is necessary to ensure the stable and complete operation of this mechanism, refraining from any retrograde initiative to use force and resolve all controversial issues by diplomatic-political means,” said Sergey Lavrov.
“The parties are agreeing on new contacts regarding the South Caucasus at the ministerial level in the "3 + 3" format,” he noted.
Lavrov stated that the trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan is not removed from the agenda, Russia is ready to accept it. He also said that the subject of the peace treaty requires constant attention. “The more often we adhere to the position of supporting the negotiation process, the sooner it will be resolved, including the issues that cause concern on the ground. Incidents, which are inevitable in any conflict, and which, of course, should be promptly observed and tried to be quickly resolved, will continue on a larger scale and more often if one of the parties, immediately after the appearance of such an incident, abandons the agreed next round of negotiations. It never did anyone any good. Even from the point of view of conveying his position to the world community, our Armenian partner missed the opportunity. Jeyhun Azizovich presented the Azerbaijani vision of the situation in detail. If our Armenian partner, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Mirzoyan confirmed his participation, fulfilled the agreement, he would also have such an opportunity. Then the international community would be able to draw conclusions. “Yerevan did not announce through diplomatic channels about the decision not to participate in the trilateral meeting of foreign ministers in Moscow, and the method by which we were informed about the non-participation raises questions,” said the Russian Foreign Minister.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov also made a statement. He said that Baku is not yet ready to fully respond to Yerevan's peace proposals. Bayramov denied the accusations against Azerbaijan regarding the blockade of the Lachin Corridor connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and presented Azerbaijan's demand that Ruben Vardanyan should leave Nagorno-Karabakh.
