In any case, in order to please the West, one must avoid reaching the “finish line” and falling into the absurd. Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), stated this at Friday’s press briefing—and commenting on the statement by Sargis Khandanyan—an MP of the ruling majority Civil Contract Faction and Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly of Armenia—that the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington and Brussels "have international standing, and this gives them legitimacy."
"I have a feeling that, sadly, some people who say such things have simply lost the sense of proportion. This is not a matter of us [i.e. Russia] not understanding such a position; not at all. We have seen many things. This is a very important issue for Armenia itself. The non-alternative roadmap for the establishment of a truly sustainable peace in the South Caucasus is a series of tripartite agreements at the highest level between the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan and Armenia, signed in 2020-2022. Washington and Brussels either directly copied them—let me remind those who talk about the ‘higher legitimacy’ of the Washington and Brussels platforms—or changed them for their own opportunistic interests. What kind of legitimacy of such false mediators can we talk about at all if we consider that the collective West, led by the United States, is engaged in flagrant violations of international law, inciting wars, conflicts, orchestrating color revolutions, and imposing on everyone the rules that invented by the Westerners themselves?
“Another very important point is that if something is discussed on the platforms of Washington and Brussels, which, for example, would be against the national interests of Armenia, will they not remember the statements of such politicians that those platforms give ‘higher legitimacy’ to the statements and documents? You just need to know the history, the history of your countries and regions, and world history," said the official representative of the Russian MFA, adding that very often the friends of the West are overthrown with his help.
