We are fully committed to helping Armenia and Azerbaijan normalize their lives, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
His remarks came at a joint press conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Friday, responding to a question about the demarcation and delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
"We initially proceeded from the fact that the basis of all the work that is being done, and on the preparation for the delimitation, and the unblocking of trade, economic and transport links, and the normalization of relations between Yerevan and Baku, are the agreements that were reached at the trilateral meetings of President Putin with his colleagues - Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Aliyev.
"As for the delimitation, last November in Sochi the three leaders agreed on the creation of a commission till the end of 2021, which was officially announced at a press conference, and now it has been repeated in Brussels," Lavrov said, adding that it is about the creation of a commission till the end of April.
"I asked my colleague how it dovetails with what the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on. The answer I received was that the situation is absolutely in this vein. I would very much like our European colleagues in Brussels to understand that course of action has already been set by the three leaders in 2020 and 2021. And that they will not put any obstacles or anything else in this channel. I noticed that in the communiqué that Mr. Michel issued after his meeting with the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia there is no mention of Russia. It already speaks about what's more important for the EU leadership - to develop the achieved results or to use this Karabakh issue to mark their own Russophobic line. This is sad. Russia will never sacrifice the interests of our closest allies to some geopolitical and even more so to propaganda schemes and games. We are fully committed to helping Armenia and Azerbaijan establish a normal life. Part of this work is, of course, delimitation. And we have confirmed today, and our colleagues have confirmed, that the decision of the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan that the commission will be bilateral, with consultative participation of the Russian side, remains in full force. And not only because we have maps of General Staff, which Yerevan and Baku are ready to use, but also for the simple reason that our cohabitation on this territory for centuries certainly allows us to hope that in this format such issues will be solved a little more effectively," Lavrov said.
Foreign Minister noted Michel's statements on other issues related to the settlement, trilateral trade, economic and transport projects, the EU's role in promoting the peace treaty. "This kind of "delicacy" is familiar to us, a purely European "delicacy," the minister noted.
Sergey Lavrov said that he had not seen any announcements from the Azerbaijani side about the cessation of the Minsk Group activities. "The fact that the French and the Americans announced it is a fact for me," the FM noted.
