ArmInfo. The process of reconciliation of two fraternal peoples for Russia - Armenia and Azerbaijan should include, among other things, the humanitarian sector. This was stated on July 26 during a weekly press conference by official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, to clarify how, in Moscow's opinion, the societies of Armenia and Azerbaijan can be brought closer.
The diplomat noted that Russia is doing everything necessary for this.
In this regard, she stated that, as indicated in the tripartite statement of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan dated October 31, 2022, it is important to create a positive environment for continuing dialogue between representatives of the expert community, civil societies, religious leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia with Russian assistance, as well as launching trilateral inter-parliamentary contacts in order to strengthen trust between the peoples of the two countries.
"Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization is not going on simply, as we all see and understand very well. But there is no alternative to peace. The issues related to this were discussed, in particular, yesterday at a trilateral meeting of the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow. We hope that the contacts mentioned will take place in the coming months," she said. To clarify whether it was possible to reach any agreements on unblocking Artsakh at yesterday's meeting in Moscow, Zakharova said that yesterday this was fully commented on by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and she had nothing to add.
To the remark of an Armenian journalist that the agreements reached yesterday in Moscow were even more pro-Azerbaijani than those in Brussels., Zakharova only retorted: " I cannot refuse you the right to your assessment. But, at the same time, I adhere our official position, it was announced yesterday by the minister."
It should be noted that following the results of the trilateral meeting in Moscow, Lavrov stated that the Armenian side has an understanding of the need to convince the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in the earliest possible meetings with Azerbaijani representatives to agree on the rights arising from the relevant legislation and from international obligations (in this case, Azerbaijani ones), including numerous conventions on ensuring the rights of national minorities.
"The Azerbaijani side is ready to provide the same guarantees on a reciprocal basis with regard to persons living on its territory. The Armenians are ready to do the same with regard to the application of all conventions to citizens living in the Republic of Armenia," he said.
Thus, it turns out that today on the agenda of the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement not only there is no issue regarding one of the three fundamental principles for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, namely the principle of the right of peoples to self-determination, including the people of Artsakh, but everything has come down to the problem of national minorities. That is, the people of Artsakh are considered as national minorities within Azerbaijan, and this is in conditions when even during the Soviet period Nagorno-Karabakh had the status of an autonomous region.