Thursday, April 28 2022 16:22

ArmInfo.Moscow continues active work with Yerevan and Baku on all tracks. This was stated during the weekly briefing on April 28 by official representative of  the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, referring to the future  fate of the format of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Recalling that the Russian Foreign Ministry had already commented on  this issue on April 21, Zakharova noted that in this comment they  said that the high diplomatic activity of the US-French Co-Chairs of  the OSCE Minsk Group had actually increased, but at the same time  paralyzed the once well-coordinated work of the three co-chairs who  refused to interact with Russian participation.

"We do not consider this a coincidencs, we also recorded Brussels' obvious attempts to master the topic of Russian-Azerbaijani-Armenian  agreementsats at the highest level as well as the agenda proposed last  year by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group," the Russian diplomat  noted.

At the same time, she once again stressed that Moscow considers  tripartite agreements at the highest level as a basis for the  normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

"Moscow continues active work with Yerevan and Baku on all tracks,  including unblocking economic and transport links, launching the  process of delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, agreeing  on a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia," she said, adding  that the issues of unblocking communications were discussed in  including the meeting on April 26 between Vice-Chairman of the  Government of the Russian Federation Alexei Overchuk and the  President of Azerbaijan.

"We also previously reported with the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides  that it was agreed to hold a regular meeting of the trilateral  working group at the level of vice-premiers of Armenia, Russia and  Azerbaijan in the near future.

As for border issues, contacts through the Ministry of Foreign  Affairs are also planned in Baku by the end of this week," the  representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said, promising to  provide additional information.

At the same time, the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry  stated that there are different negotiation formats. "We see that one  format brings concrete results, and we pay considerable attention to  the one that brings a specific effective result that suits both Baku  and Yerevan. Accordingly, if it suits both Baku and Yerevan, it suits  us too," said the Russian format.

At the same time, she stressed that the second format (the OSCE Minsk  Group - ed. note) also exists, Russia is also in it. "But, at the  same time, it does not bring any specifics, efficiency at this  stage," she said, adding once again that Moscow focuses on those  tracks that are effective.

Zakharova also recalled the many so-called dormant formats that are  updated at some point.  At the same time, in her opinion, the real  work in those institutions, in those formats that give results, is  obvious. "We, one way or another, remain in the formats that existed  before. Howerver t we see that the work there is not going so  smoothly, but, it goes, we are participating, but, of course, we are  focusing on those areas and the implementation of those documents  that together give a real result. And this result is felt by  civilians, and the civilian population, and economic operators, and  the state and the region in general," she concluded.

It should be noted that on April 15, official representative of the  Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that on February 24  this year, Washington and Paris stopped all contacts with Moscow  within the "troika" of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.  "Meanwhile, the real situation in the South Caucasus does not allow  for pauses in negotiations. Further consistent steps are required to  restore long- term peace and stability in the region, since the  United States and France have ceased cooperation between the  co-chairs. In this regard, she continued, Ambassador-at-Large Igor  Khovaev will continue his work in a new capacity, namely, the Special  Representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian  Federation on promoting the normalization of relations between the  Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia," Zakharova said.   After this statement by the Russian side, the positions of the  American and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group were also  changed.