It is important for Armenia to establish the principle that the blockade should take place on the basis of the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the parties. In a briefing with journalists, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia emphasized, commenting on the statement of the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, that the main disagreement is how to ensure the safety of those crossing that road.
The 9 November 2020 trilateral statement and the order signed by the Russian president afterwards stipulates Russian monitoring and not control, however the details on unblocking are still under discussion, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan told reporters.
Speaking about the unblocking of regional connections, the Deputy Foreign Minister said that before going into details it is highly important for Armenia to record that unblocking will take place based on the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the parties, taking into account reciprocity of the unblocking process. He said that Armenia has always been constructive and eager to implement the unblocking process.
“Armenia has been displaying constructive approach ever since the statement was signed on January 11, 2021, and will continue to be constructive, because we are interested in unblocking of regional infrastructures and transport routes, because we believe that the Armenian Crossroads project has great potential, given also the geopolitical developments, logistic issues facing the world today,” Kostanyan said.
All details on unblocking, including security-related, must take place within Armenian sovereignty and jurisdiction. “If until now we haven’t been able to record on paper that unblocking will take place within the framework of sovereignty and jurisdiction, naturally the unconstructive side is Azerbaijan,” Kostanyan said.
Asked whether control of the road should be exercised by Russia under the 9 November statement, Kostanyan said: “The 9 November statement and the order signed by the Russian president afterwards speaks more about a monitoring function that the Russian FSB should implement, and not a specific control. But details on unblocking are still in the discussions phase.”
Russia wants to open a consulate in Kapan, Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan has said.
“The issue of opening a consulate-general in specifically Kapan is being discussed,” Kostanyan said.
When asked why Russia has chosen specifically Kapan, Kostanyan referred the reporters to the Russian embassy.
“The procedures will be fully maintained. We welcome the interest and desire by our international partners on having a diplomatic representation in Syunik, with the purpose of getting to know the situation on the ground better,” Kostanyan said.
Earlier Iran also opened a consulate-general in Kapan.
Kostanyan has revealed the key points that Armenia and Azerbaijan still disagree on as part of peace talks.
Kostanyan told reporters that Armenia and Azerbaijan have disagreements regarding principled issues.
“Including regarding stipulating the map, as to which map must be the basis of the future delimitation process, regarding the institution of guarantors, regarding the security guarantees for the people of Nagorno Karabakh, regarding the Baku-Stepanakert international mechanism for dialogue, unfortunately as of this moment there is no agreement, the views of the parties are rather distant from one another,” Kostanyan said.
The work continues, he added.
The new timeframe of the Armenia-Azerbaijan foreign ministerial talks in Washington D.C. will be announced soon, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Vahan Kostanyan told reporters on June 19.
He said that discussions are underway regarding new timeframes of the postponed meeting.
“I think we will be able to provide public information in this regard soon,” Kostanyan said.
Kostanyan said that Azerbaijan’s actions – the tension on the border, the gunfire targeting sovereign territory of Armenia, as well as escalation in Nagorno Karabakh – are not conducive to building peace and stability in the South Caucasus region and question Azerbaijan’s statements claiming that they are truly interested in peace and stability.
The foreign ministerial meeting in Washington D.C. was supposed to take place on June 12th but was postponed by Azerbaijan.
