You aware that the meeting between me and the president of Azerbaijan took place in Brussels, through the mediation of European Council President Charles Michel, until late last night. As a result of the meeting, a decision was made on two issues. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government of the Republic of Armenia (RA).
"First, the foreign ministers of the two countries have been instructed to start preparatory work for a future peace agreement and to launch talks and contacts in this regard. This means that the principles and issues presented by RA and Azerbaijan on the peace agreement should be brought together and addressed as a result of the talks," Pashinyan said, adding that he had voiced the views of the Armenian side at the previous government session.
"You are aware that we have emphasized that there is nothing in the proposals of Azerbaijan that is unacceptable for us, but they do not complete the issues on the peace agenda and the guarantees of security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)], protection of their rights and freedoms, as well as the clarification of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh is of fundamental importance for us.
These issues are included in our answers to the peace agenda and should be a subject of negotiations. Of course, as before, we consider the engagement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in this process essential, and we shall continue to work in that regard," he said.
The Armenian PM informed that naturally there was a discussion on the deterioration of the security environment in Artsakh, in particular, the events in Parukh village.
"But those discussions did not lead to a joint assessment of the situation. I would also like to say that I did not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue in the Brussels platform because it is, nonetheless, about the intrusion of Azerbaijani [army] units into the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping mission in Artsakh, and this issue should be discussed more with the participation of Russian partners—which we do and will do.
"I have publicized our position on this issue. Accordingly, we expect that the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh will take measures to ensure the withdrawal of Azerbaijani units from their area of responsibility," Pashinyan said.
