The constant reproaches voiced by various sources against Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh are groundless, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference on Friday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this on Friday at a press conference following talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
"We should all probably proceed from the fact that this situation is multilateral, and it is necessary to take into account the public opinion of all parties involved - Azerbaijan, of course, Armenia, Karabakh, as well as Russia. The public opinion of the Russian side is also important, especially because there are recriminations from different sources, mainly groundless, against Russian peacekeepers who work in very difficult conditions, taking into consideration that on both sides there are recurrent claims, and given the need, as Mr. Minister [Jeyhun Bayramov] said, to strictly follow the procedures laid down in the trilateral agreements," Lavrov said.
The minister noted that the Karabakh problem came from the Soviet Union. "And the mines in question, they have been developed since Soviet times. In other words, there were enterprises working there in Soviet times, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was part of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, but now, apparently, they have turned into businessmen, which, as I understand it, are still there. So this is part of the inherited problem. And it can only be finally solved, of course, by making a peace treaty and putting a bold end to this legal issue," he added.
"This does not mean, of course, that there is no need to do nothing there. As Jeyhun Azizovich mentioned, about a couple of weeks ago, 10 days ago, due to the mediation efforts of Russian peacekeepers an agreement to organize a visit of a group of environmentalists to one of the mines on the territory of Karabakh <...> was reached. Unfortunately, this agreement was broken through no fault of the Azerbaijani side or of the Russian peacekeepers," Lavrov said. - "It was said that the leadership of Karabakh did not want to receive such a delegation, to allow such a delegation to visit the territory of this region. I do not know who was involved in this, Jeyhun Azizovich mentioned Mr. Vardanyan.
Lavrov stressed that Russia has nothing to do with Ruben Vardanyan's decision to go to Karabakh and engage in political activities there. "At his request, a presidential decree was signed the other day, he is no longer a Russian citizen, and we have not had, do not have and do not intend to have any case related to his decision to go to Karabakh and start participating in any political life there," the Russian foreign minister said.
Work of peacekeepers
Russian peacekeepers are working hours a day to resolve the situation in the Lachin corridor and are in contact with the parties, the minister said.
"We have reviewed, of course, the situation that is of most interest right now - the aggravation of the situation in the Lachin corridor. We confirmed that Russian peacekeepers are working literally hourly to resolve the situation in contacts with the relevant parties," he said.
"And we are in favor of restoring full-fledged transport communication as soon as possible and resolving disagreements over the development of the region's ore deposits. The topic is old, inherited from the Soviet Union, and of course it is necessary to remove its acuteness as soon as possible," Lavrov added.
As the Russian minister noted, Moscow proceeds from the fact that everyone should strictly adhere to those obligations contained in the November 9, 2020, statement of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia regarding the regime of movement through the Lachin corridor. "Our Azerbaijani colleagues, as I understand it, have the same position," he pointed out.
"Unfortunately our Armenian colleagues did not come, they announced it at the last moment. We took this into account, but nevertheless we decided to meet and see where we are in terms of both current problems of today and in terms of moving towards a long-term settlement of this entire situation in all its aspects," Lavrov stressed.
Interest in peace
Russia, more than anyone else, is interested in a lasting and just peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the prevention of conflicts, the minister said.
"Russia, probably more than anyone else, is interested in ensuring that a lasting, fair peace is established between the two friendly states in this region and that any recurrence of past manifestations of conflict is reliably ruled out," he said.
Lavrov noted that despite the Armenian foreign minister's cancelled visit to Moscow, the heads of Russian and Azerbaijani diplomatic departments discussed issues of the peace treaty. "We believe that everything should be done to bring the positions of the sides closer. At a certain stage it seemed that the Azerbaijani proposals, which were positively received by the Armenian side, will create the basis for a corresponding legal document," he said. - "Our friends recognize the necessity of Russia's assistance in the negotiation process; moreover, the trilateral statement on the results of the trilateral summit in Sochi on October 31 of this year contains this necessity."
Lavrov said they analyzed the implementation of all trilateral statements on the settlement in the region during the meeting. Also, he said, progress was noted in the issue of unblocking transport and economic ties in the South Caucasus.
"We hope that soon the co-chairmen of the trilateral working group will be able to start working out specific agreements. The principal decisions were discussed at the level of the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan, and they were supported by the prime minister of Armenia. There is no reason now to delay practical implementation of the agreements," summed up the Russian foreign minister.
On the situation in the Lachin corridor
The Lachin corridor is the only road linking Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. On December 12, a group of Azerbaijanis who introduced themselves as environmentalists blocked the Lachin corridor, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily deployed. Baku stated that the goal of the protest was not to block any road and that civilian vehicles could move freely in both directions.
Yerevan saw this action as a provocation by Baku, which aims to create a humanitarian disaster in the unrecognized republic. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan earlier said that Yerevan urged the UN, OSCE and OSCE Minsk Group to send an assessment mission to the Lachin corridor. Armenia on December 14 appealed to the European Court of Human Rights demanding to oblige Azerbaijan to unblock the Lachin corridor. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a government meeting that the blockage of the corridor has caused a food shortage in Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Photo: Alexander Ryumin / TASS
Based on materials from TASS