Moscow and Ankara are set to pool their efforts to contribute to normalizing practical interaction between Baku and Yerevan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday.
“We agreed to continue closely coordinating our efforts to assist Baku and Yerevan in solving the practical issues of normalizing their relations with the emphasis on strengthening confidence-building measures,” Russia’s top diplomat pointed out.
Both sides exchanged opinions “about the specific situation on the ground” and expressed their satisfaction with the work of the joint Russian-Turkish center set up in the Agdam district of Azerbaijan for monitoring the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, Lavrov said.
“We are convinced that the efforts for unblocking transport links, promoting versatile economic cooperation in the South Caucasus region certainly with the participation of the countries of that region and their neighbors, including Turkey and Russia, will contribute to the goals of comprehensive stabilization,” the Russian foreign minister stressed.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10.
Under the agreement, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides maintained the positions that they had held, some districts passed over to Baku’s control and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line and the Lachin corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh.
TASS
