Friday, June 24 2022 14:30

ArmInfo.The activities of the OSCE Minsk Group on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were not on the agenda of the talks between the Foreign Ministers of  Russia and Azerbaijan in Baku. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov  stated this on June 24 at a joint press conference with Azerbaijani  Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, answering a relevant question.

"In principle, we did not discuss the Minsk Group as such, as it  ceased its activities on the initiative of its American and French  members. But, of course, we discussed the processes of post-conflict  settlement," Lavrov said.

In this vein, he stressed that the basis for these new processes lies  in the three tripartite statements of the leaders of Armenia,  Azerbaijan and Russia. "In fact, the well-known events of  September-October- November 2020 (Azerbaijan's aggression against  Artsakh - ed. note) left behind all the developments that had been  discussed for many years to no avail. This is an objective reality  "And the above mentioned three tripartite statements are recognized  by all as the basis for moving forward, and for the final closure of  all remaining issues. We proceed from this. As I understand it, our  European neighbors also recognize this reality, who are trying in  every possible way to introduce the efforts of the EU in resolving  the remaining issues tasks," the Russian Foreign Minister said.

In this vein, he once again stressed that all of them (European  neighbors - ed. note) recognize the tasks set out in the tripartite  agreements of the leaders of the three countries, and which are in no  way connected either with the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group, or  with the developments that were available within this group . "Except  for the ultimate goal, which was to "liberate" the regions that  surrounded Karabakh and resolve the issues of the life of Karabakh  itself and its population," Lavrov added.

In turn, Bayramov again accused the OSCE Minsk Group of inefficiency,  saying that over the three decades of its existence it had not  brought any results. At the same time, he assured that by the 44-day  war, Azerbaijan single-handedly "implemented 4 UN resolutions and  "liberated" 7 regions." At the same time, he added that after the  signing of the tripartite statement dated November 9, 2020, contacts  with the OSCE Minsk Group continued, and in December 2020 they  visited the region, and the position of the Azerbaijani side was  presented to them

"Despite the fact that Azerbaijan has already ensured the  implementation of the points of the Madrid principles, we invited the  mediators to present their vision, proposals that would be acceptable  to the parties. After that, contacts with the OSCE Minsk Group  continued for another year, but unfortunately we did not receive any  effective proposals from them," he said, adding that since February  2022, the format of the OSCE Minsk Group has been completely  paralyzed due to well-known events (the situation around Ukraine).

" The position of the Azerbaijani side in this situation is as  follows: the normalization and the achievement of long-term, lasting  and sustainable peace in the region is priority for us. And from this  prism, the process cannot be a hostage of the format. Naturally, we  cannot focus on a non-existent format," Bayramov summed up.

It should be noted that on April 8, the head of the Russian Foreign  Ministry accused the EU of using the Karabakh issue to promote its  Russophobic line regarding the Brussels meeting of the leaders of  Armenia and Azerbaijan, mediated by the EU. He also noted that he  does not know what the future of the OSCE Minsk Group will be, since  the West has stopped contacting Moscow in this format, against the  backdrop of the situation around Ukraine.

Then, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria  Zakharova, informed that on February 24, Washington and Paris stopped  all contacts with Moscow within the "troika" of the co-chairs of the  OSCE Minsk Group. "Meanwhile, the 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 US and France have ceased cooperation as co-chairs,"  Zakharova said.

In this regard, she continued, Ambassador-at-Large Igor Khovaev will  continue his work in a new capacity, namely, 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.

Yerevan insists on continuing the discussion of the situation around  Nagorno-Karabakh in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group, while Baku  assures that the format has already outlived itself and there is no  need for it, since the Azerbaijani side independently resolved the  Karabakh conflict by force.