In all the agreements, first of all, in the November 9 statement, the parties agree to ensure the link between Armenia and Karabakh through the Lachin corridor, which is monitored by Russian peacekeepers. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated this during his press conference, and in response to an Azerbaijani reporter’s question as to why Armenia’s officials visit Karabakh "without Baku's permission, and what Moscow's position is in this regard."
"No one has ever denied Armenia's link with Karabakh. During the decades-long negotiations, the issue of cutting Armenia and Karabakh off from each other was never raised; and this is why the Lachin corridor, as a concept, has not been rejected by anyone. And it is, as before, the subject of agreement between the parties, including the agreement by our Azerbaijani neighbors.
In the same way, a reliable permanent link will be established between the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. If we agree [and everyone agrees on that] that there should be a link between the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenians of Armenia, I see no reason to hinder contacts at that level. The officials of Armenia are involved in the process of providing humanitarian assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh, which does not received any negative response from Baku; and it would be weird if it were otherwise.
The fact that Armenian officials make politicized statements in Karabakh still causes tension; I believe it would be better to avoid it. Before the 44-day [recent] war [in and around Karabakh], we witnessed how emotional statements being made (…). You know, words have material power. In this case, such words from different sides have a negative material power. That is why we pay great attention to the contacts between the leaderships of Armenia and Azerbaijan, to the formation of a climate of trust. And this was one of the most important meanings of the January 11 meeting in Moscow (…). I am full of hope that emotions will be pushed to the background. By the way, that is why the topic of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is not a priority now; it will remain for the future, and we will return to it later. But the most important thing is that in the future, concrete, calm, legal negotiations on the status issue take place between Yerevan and Baku, based on the good neighborliness they need to restore in the region," Lavrov said.
