Moscow participates in the work with Armenia and Azerbaijan at the level that Yerevan and Baku demand our participation; no more, no less. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov stated this at a press conference held in Moscow with his visiting Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, on Tuesday—and in response to the question about the coinciding of the approaches of Moscow and Baku.

"I don't understand on what basis you have came to the conclusion that our [i.e. Russia’s] position coincides with the position of Azerbaijan in the context of the matter that we have problems with Armenia. It turns out that, based on your question, we [i.e. Russia] are taking a side in the matter of the settlement of South Caucasus and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. This is wrong. We are dealing with issues that, in our opinion, are very, very urgent: the normalization of relations between Yerevan and Baku, based on our deep interest in our brotherly peoples living in peace and neighborliness.

We have strategic partnership and alliance relations with both Armenian and Azerbaijani sides. And we are interested in it, unlike the countries far from the South Caucasus, which advance a completely different agenda, aiming to maintain tension in the region as long as possible, hoping that they will be able to advance their geopolitical interests more effectively within the framework of that tension.

Russia is guided by the arrangements reached by the agreement of Yerevan and Baku in a trilateral format at the level of our leaders in 2020-2022. A whole series of trilateral agreements were signed on overall settlement, peace treaty, unblocking of [regional] economic and transport links, border demarcation and delimitation. We participate in that work at the level that Yerevan and Baku demand our participation; no more, no less," the Russian FM emphasized.