Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Masis Mayilyan has commented on the statement by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov on the phased approach to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The foreign minister wrote that the authorities of Artsakh have declared several times that they are guided by independence and security in the process of peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabakh. He recalled that the people of Artsakh exercised their inviolable right to self-determination during the independence referendum in 1991 and expressed their will at least twice during the constitutional referenda held in 2006 and 2017.

The foreign minister also said it is necessary to state that seeking possible paths to settle the conflict based on territorial concessions on the part of Artsakh is not prospective since “the conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabakh is not a territorial dispute”.

As far as territorial concessions are concerned, according to Mayilyan, this will directly lead to perdition of the security system of not only the Republic of Artsakh, but also the Republic of Armenia.