“It is difficult to give an assessment of the position of the Armenian side, when the statements of official Yerevan on the same issue differ drastically. During the mentioned press conference, the Armenian Prime Minister spoke both about the intention to sign a document based on the Russian proposals and about the preference of some ‘comprehensive solution’ to the conflict promoted by the West,” she said.
According to her, Yerevan’s agreement to build on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration in working out a peace treaty with Baku, which was recorded in the statement following the summit meeting in Prague in October 2022, fundamentally changed the logic of the negotiation process.
“The Alma-Ata Declaration affirms the inviolability of the borders that existed between the republics of the Soviet Union. At that time the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast was part of the Azerbaijan SSR. Of course, it is very difficult to ignore this fact in the peace process between Baku and Yerevan,” Zakharova stressed.
She also recalled that a meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on a peace treaty had been scheduled to take place in Moscow on December 23 of last year, and the leaders of the two countries had agreed to it.
“Everything had been prepared for it. But it was the Armenian leadership that at the last moment cancelled the visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan. This hindered not only the discussion of a peace treaty, but also the discussion of other pressing issues of Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization, including the situation around the Lachin corridor.
“If Armenian partners are really interested in solving these problems in the context of the comprehensive implementation of trilateral agreements at the highest level, then they should continue working together instead of indulging in scholasticism. Russia’s proposal to provide a platform for Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty talks is still on the table,” the diplomat said.
