Have you addressed that question to Armenia’s authorities? At Thursday’s weekly briefing, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, answered a question with this question, when responding to a reporter’s question as to why the right of self-determination of peoples is ignored in the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process, the unwillingness of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) to live in Azerbaijan is not taken into account, although the right to self-determination is noted in the Alma Ata declaration and the UN Charter, too.

In addition, this reporter recalled that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had announced at a recent press conference that the Alma Ata declaration of 1991 and the UN Charter will become the basis for the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, and thereby, Armenia has recognized that Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Azerbaijan at that time, and this, as it were, facilitates further work on the status of Karabakh.

The reporter noted that the Armenian parliament had ratified the Alma Ata declaration with the reservation that it does not apply to Nagorno-Karabakh and that the latter itself had left the Azerbaijan SSR in accordance with the Soviet laws and was not part of Azerbaijan at the time of signing the aforesaid declaration.

"Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov explained all the nuances, all the emphasis at the press conference. There is nothing to add. With the same wording, let someone address this question to the authorities [of Armenia], so that the single public position of the state is clear. And then we will be able to hold a public debate. In recent times, we have seen different interpretations, many different explanations of some things. We would like to know the main official position of Yerevan," said Zakharova.