Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated that the West is trying to push Russia out of the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Speaking at a news conference in New York, Lavrov recalled that several Armenian-Azerbaijani-Russian documents were agreed upon at the highest level, which defined key parameters of the settlement, including the issue of border delimitation, unblocking trade and transport routes and signing a peace treaty.
“Recently, we have seen how already after all these agreements were reached, Western colleagues decided that it was somehow wrong that Russia was making progress in this direction. They started luring Armenians and Azerbaijanis to Brussels, Paris, Washington, Prague. By the way, in 2022 in the Czech Republic the Prime Minister of Armenia signed a document saying that he recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within the borders of 1991. This means that the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (as Karabakh was then called) is an integral part of Azerbaijan. This came as a surprise to us. Before that, different options for the final solution of the Karabakh status problem had been discussed, but the Armenian Prime Minister did it on his own. Since then, the question of status, of what Karabakh is, has been closed.
We still have peacekeepers there, even after everyone recognized Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory. This issue no longer concerns the Armenian side. It is an issue of bilateral relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. The presidents discussed this matter, they agreed that at this stage the presence of Russian peacekeepers plays a positive role for strengthening stability, confidence in the region and to facilitate the return of Karabakh residents who want to do so,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.
