Russia will continue to provide comprehensive assistance to its Azerbaijani and Armenian partners in the establishment of sustainable peace and prosperity in the region—and on the basis of the trilateral agreements at the highest level. Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), stated this at Wednesday’s press briefing.

She emphasized that the importance of these agreements cannot be overestimated, and that Russia and President Vladimir Putin himself have done a lot of work to reach the agreements that enabled stopping the bloodshed.

"Thanks to this framework, we were able to achieve real, meaningful results on various issues. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia were close to the restoration of transport routes in the region in June 2023. But under pressure from the West, Yerevan stopped participating in working groups and all trilateral formats," Zakharova noted.

According to her, the US and the EU, acting as “mediators,” did not propose anything new and only reproduced the Russian developments, distorting their essence.

Zakharova added that, in fact, the West seeks to control the peace process in order to increase its influence in the region and push out Russia, Iran, and Turkey.

"For them [i.e. the West], the fate of the peoples of the South Caucasus is not important; they are guided only by their ambitions. Unlike the West, we [i.e. Russia] are sincerely interested in the security, stability, and prosperity of the South Caucasus. This region is the zone of our historical, economic, and humanitarian interests. We are ready to contribute to its development because it is the basis of stability and security," Zakharova said.