Russia either threatens, warns or advises Yerevan

Baku/15.12.23/Turan: Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday once again expressed its dissatisfaction with attempts to exclude it from the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement process. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova made a lengthy comment accusing the Armenian authorities of attempting to discredit Russia's role.

The commentary refers to the "non-alternative" role of Russia in the settlement.  The package of trilateral agreements, consisting of statements by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on 9 November 2020, 11 January and 26 November 2021, and 31 October 2022, is an alternative-free roadmap for reconciliation between Baku and Yerevan.

"We consider attempts to disavow these crucial documents extremely dangerous. Such a step will inevitably result in serious risks, first of all - for Armenia itself."

"The US and the EU, unlike Russia, are not seeking to bring peace and stability to Armenia and other South Caucasus states, their task is completely different - to squeeze us and other regional players, to create a new hotbed of tension following the Balkans, the Middle East and Ukraine."

"We cannot but note a number of actions of Yerevan, owing to which it was not possible to fully implement the trilateral agreements. At the October 2022 EU summit in Prague, the Armenian side changed its position on Karabakh by 180 degrees, recognising it as belonging to Azerbaijan, while "forgetting" - at the prompting of EU advisers - to at least mention the need to properly ensure the rights and security of the Armenian population in the region. Such a decision radically changed the situation in the zone of deployment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent".

"The Armenian side's use of the Lachin corridor for arms supplies to Karabakh in violation of trilateral agreements and Yerevan's unwillingness to ensure the complete withdrawal of Armenian armed units from the region, which largely led to the clashes in September this year, also had a negative impact."

" As regards the issue of unblocking transport communications, it is Yerevan that has, time after time in every possible way, "frozen" the achievement of specific agreements within the framework of the Trilateral Working Group co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers. In particular, for many months the Armenian side has been blocking the beginning of works on the restoration of railway communication between Azerbaijan and Armenia, refusing to comply with the provisions of paragraph 9 of the summit statement of 9 November 2020".

No real work on the delimitation of the border between the two countries with the assistance of Russia has been launched so far. For the sake of inviting the EU mission, the Armenian side refused from the CSTO mechanisms to stabilise the situation in the border zones.

The delay in the implementation of the above-mentioned decisions of the leadership of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia is "a direct result of Yerevan's inconsistent actions, not Moscow's policy, as some people try to claim".

The way out of this difficult situation is obvious - to return to the implementation of the trilateral agreements.

"We confirm our proposal to organise the next round of negotiations on the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the very near future in Russia," the commentary reads. -0-