Russian Foreign Minister reminds once again who recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan
ArmInfo.No one in the world can prevent anyone from developing relations with other countries, but it should not be a zero-sum game. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated this at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan following talks held in Yerevan on May 21.
"You can't come and say, let us offer you a project that interests you, and in return you stop communicating with another country. This is not our principle. This is a principle that has been defined since ancient times as divide and rule. And it is clear that there is nothing democratic, nothing free in this," the Russian minister said.
When asked why the Russian side did not respond appropriately to the Azerbaijani aggression against the sovereign territories of Armenia in the fall of 2022, Lavrov noted that he did not know what was meant by the word "appropriate", but the CSTO's reaction was immediate.
"As for our obligations to Armenia within the CSTO - this reaction followed. Immediate. The CSTO group was sent to Armenia to familiarize itself with the situation, then the CSTO "fact-finding" headed by the Secretary General went to the site, promptly presented a report with specific practical proposals on sending a CSTO observer mission to stabilize the situation there," the Russian diplomat noted.
He once again recalled that following the visit, a report was prepared regarding the further actions of the CSTO and it was agreed upon and submitted for approval to the heads of state at the CSTO Foreign Ministers' Council in October of the same year in Yerevan. However, the Armenian side refused to approve it; consensus was not achieved. "And after some time, already in November 2022, the EU mission was announced. And in Prague it was announced that the position on the affiliation of Nagorno-Karabakh is determined on a mutual basis, which was approved by Baku and Yerevan, on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, according to which Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Azerbaijan.
This was quite unexpected because in November 2020, at the height of the hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia when the Russian President was editing a ceasefire agreement with the president of Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia, the matter of the affiliation of Nagorno-Karabakh was deliberately left out of the brackets-a gentleman's agreement that the status is subject to further agreement between the parties. What happened happened. They do not criticize those who do nothing. We were just trying to do something," Lavrov said.
In turn, Mirzoyan noted that he could not stay away from this incredibly important conversation. "This is one of those cases where we, the two countries, have mutual understanding and common perceptions on many issues. However, there are issues where the interpretation of facts differs. And the attack in the direction of Jermuk is one such issue, and this event has become a cornerstone for further development and positions, including in the context of freezing membership in the CSTO. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to once again present Armenia's perceptions and position," he noted. According to Mirzoyan, in August 2022, Russia, as a mediator, presented a proposal to Armenia and Azerbaijan, Armenia gave its consent to these proposals, but Azerbaijan did not.
"It was in August when we saw that there was no positive stance. And in the first half of September, an attack and violation of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia, a violation of the internationally recognized borders of the Republic was carried out by Azerbaijani Armed Forces in the direction of Jermuk. Of course, we informed our allies about this - both Russia, as a direct ally, and also our allies within the CSTO. The actions that followed, as I have already said, were not satisfactory for Armenia. In October, a quadrilateral meeting was held in Prague, where the perception was confirmed that Armenia and Azerbaijan mutually recognize territorial integrity on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration," he said. Then he presented the current Armenian authorities' interpretation of this document, seriously distorting the essence of the Alma-Ata Declaration, which recognized the states within their current borders, and not at the time of the collapse of the Union. References to this document are groundless, as this document contains reservations regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan joined this declaration in 1993.
"As for the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, the position of the Republic of Armenia has not been shared by any of the international partners for many years, including the Russian Federation, which at the highest level has emphasized that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan. The Republic of Armenia does not dispute this approach, I repeat again that Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan on the basis of the Almaty Declaration and, naturally, expects and has received assurances from Azerbaijan on the recognition of Armenia's territorial integrity," Mirzoyan concluded.