Monday, March 20 2023 17:55

ArmInfo.If we speak in concepts of  "the occupation that lasted for more than a dozen years ended, and aggression began", then we will not solve any problem that  way.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated this on March 20  in Moscow at a joint press conference following the results of  negotiations with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in  response to a question about the Azerbaijani aggression against  Artsakh and the blockade of the only road connecting the NKR with the  outside world.

According to him, one should always look for ways to reconcile the  parties, one should always look for a balance of interests. Lavrov  assured that this is exactly what Russia did as an ally of Armenia,  and as a strategic partner of Azerbaijan, when it stopped hostilities  in 2020.

"Everyone knows that there was an opportunity to stop hostilities  before it finally took place," the Russian minister said, without  going into details of this issue and leaving it to the judgment of  historians.

At the same time, he emphasized that Russia strictly, completely,  without any improvisations stands for the implementation of all  tripartite agreements reached between the leaders of Armenia,  Azerbaijan and Russia, and first of all, the agreements signed on the  night of November 9-10, 2020.

"And the problem of the Lachin (Berdzor) corridor should be  considered exclusively in this context, and only the full  implementation of all aspects of the agreements on the Lachin  corridor, without exception, may settle the current situation. Our  peacekeepers are doing exactly this now," the Russian Foreign  Minister said, adding that he spoke about this with Mirzoyan today.

At the same time, he expressed the hope that all parties will  understand that this part, like all other points of the trilateral  agreements, should be carried out by all together. "There, each side  has its obligations," he said.

"As for Russia's mediation efforts, and your question whether these  efforts are not discredited by the Azerbaijani side, I can again  return to trilateral agreements. The United States, the EU, NATO do  not just want to discredit the Russian Federation, but openly declare  it. By and large, they are engaged in what I would call diplomatic  raiding, when they are trying to subdue the tripartite agreements  between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. They are trying to impose  their supervision on all this work, directly undermining the key  principles of these documents, which assume the active participation  of the Russian Federation in resolving issues of unblocking transport  and economic ties, and in delimiting the border between Armenia and  Azerbaijan, and in assisting in the conclusion of a peace treaty" the  minister said.

According to Lavrov, in today's negotiations with Mirzoyan, they did  not proceed by piling up claims "to the West, not to the West", but  honestly considered the current situation. "It objectively exists. It  objectively does not correspond to all the tasks set in the  tripartite statements. And today we frankly discussed how to get  everything back to their normal, working course. It seems to me that  today we reached a certain mutual understanding," Lavrov concluded.