Lavrov: Alma-Ata Declaration envisages Nagorno-Karabakh as part of  Azerbaijan

ArmInfo. The OSCE Minsk Group was established at one time in order to unite the countries that have influence in the region and the ability to send signs to  both Yerevan and Baku, and which agreed to work under the  chairmanship of Russia and the United States. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced this on December 1  at a press conference on European security.

"At some stage, France, as often happens, said, "What about me?" And  we agreed that France would join as well," he said.

At the same time, the Russian minister recalled that the Minsk  mediators held both joint meetings  and separately. He recalled that  one of the significant results of these meetings was the emergence of  the Madrid principles, which were constantly adjusted during the  negotiation process. Lavrov added that at some stage, at the turn of  2010, Russia became the lead co-chair in the negotiations.

<But, after the 44-day war of 2020 passed, when a ceasefire was  reached with our mediation, Russia continued and continues to help  the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides in unblocking regional transport  and economic communications, which will give impetus to the  development of not only Armenia and Azerbaijan , but also other  countries - Iran, Georgia, Turkey. And Russia will be interested in  this>, said Lavrov. In addition, he continued, an agreement was  reached that Russia would help the two sides in delimiting the  border, as well as assist in negotiating a peace treaty between  Yerevan and Baku.

Lavrov noted that in parallel with the efforts of the Russian side,  Moscow watched the "convulsive attempts of other players to intervene  in these processes."

<We haven't had any problems with it. The only thing that we noted in  our contacts with Yerevan and Baku was that after the start of the  special military operation, the West officially announced through  Paris and Washington that they would not cooperate with Russia  anywhere in any format. Thus, they announced the completion of the  activities of the OSCE Minsk Group>, the chief diplomat of Russia  said.

According to him, therefore, when their Armenian partners sometimes  recall the OSCE Minsk Group, Moscow emphasizes that this question  should not be addressed to it. <This question should be addressed to  the United States and France, who said that they will no longer  collect this group. And of course, this question should be addressed  to Azerbaijan, because without it any mediation efforts are  meaningless>, he said.

At the same time, Lavrov believes that both the EU and France are now  trying to compensate for the OSCE Minsk Group that they buried by  their wedging into mediation efforts. "Moreover, they are trying to  pick up and privatize the agreements reached by the parties through  the mediation of Russia. For example, a meeting of the commission on  delimitation is being held in Brussels. Well, both Armenians and  Azerbaijanis, polite people, go there. But it's hard for me to  imagine how it is possible to discuss the details of the delimitation  without having the maps of the former Soviet republics, which only  the General Staff of the Russian Federation has,>," Lavrov said.

According to him, the same applies to the peace treaty. "In this  matter, they went to Prague to the forum of the European Political  Community and there they signed a document stating that the  delimitation and peace treaty should be based on, be in accordance  with the UN Charter and the Alma-Ata Declaration of December 1991.  And this declaration says that all the Union Republics form the CIS  and confirm the inviolability of the borders within those borders  that existed between the Union Republics of the Soviet Union. In  other words, at that time, the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region was  clearly part of Soviet Azerbaijan. And when it was approved by  Azerbaijan, Armenia, France, and Mr. Michel (President of the  European Council -ed. note), within the framework of the document  that we recognize the Alma-Ata Declaration without any reservations,  this, of course, facilitates further work, because it solves the  issue of how to approach the status of Nagorno-Karabakh>, the  minister said.

Lavrov also drew attention to the fact that Armenia is already  talking about the need to secure the rights of the Armenian  population in Karabakh rather than about the status. "And the  Azerbaijani side is ready for this. They are ready to provide all the  guarantees of the rights that other citizens of Azerbaijan have,  here. Nobody remembers the Minsk Group now>, the Russian minister  said, adding that only in Armenia they sometimes remember the OSCE  Minsk Group.

"It (Minsk Group, ed. note) was buried by the French and Americans.  So we have nothing to do with this issue," Lavrov summed up.