"Juggling with words" will not lead to anything good - Zakharova  responds Pashinyan`s statements

ArmInfo. Moscow has been and remains a supporter of advancing the process of normalization of  Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. This was announced on August 2 at a  briefing by official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry,  Maria Zakharova, commenting on the statement of the Prime Minister of  the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan that against the background  of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, Moscow's activity  in the direction of the South Caucasus has decreased.

<It is a strange logic, one gets the impression that until 2022, from  the point of view of the Armenian leadership, everything was without  a hitch in this area. All statements about reducing the priorities of  Russia's foreign policy against the backdrop of a special military  operation in Ukraine have no factual basis. Perhaps this is a  personal opinion, judgments, emotions, but you need to look at the  facts>,  said the official representative of the Russian Foreign  Ministry.

She noted that Russia is doing everything possible to achieve lasting  peace and harmony in the region, fully implementing its obligations.   "What kind of decrease in activity can we talk about, how it was  presented, if there have been a number of contacts in recent months,  with the participation of the Russian Federation at the high and  highest levels," Zakharova said, pointing to key meetings. In  particular, on May 25, a trilateral meeting of the leaders of Russia,  Armenia and Azerbaijan was held in Moscow, on June 2 - the 12th  meeting of the trilateral working group on reopening transport  communications co-chaired by the vice- premiers of the three  countries, on May 19 and June 25 - trilateral talks of foreign  ministers. <Is this a slowdown? I gave only the data for the last  three months. It seems to me that we still need to face the truth,"  the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry  emphasized, adding that the matter lies in the consistent  implementation of the agreements reached by Baku and Yerevan, in  which Moscow is ready to help in every possible way.

Zakharova also expressed bewilderment at Pashinyan's statement about  the possibility of an early withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping forces  from Nagorno-Karabakh, especially against the backdrop of the current  extremely difficult humanitarian situation. <Is this the wish of Mr.  Pashinyan? It is well known that our peacekeepers perform important  functions: the exchange of prisoners, the demining of territories,  the settlement of incidents, and the provision of humanitarian  assistance. Is this activity really unnecessary and undesirable from  the point of view of the Armenian leadership? You need to decide  somehow. 

Unfortunately, there is such a tendency when representatives of the  Armenian leadership take an ambivalent  position on a number of key  issues, and I would very much like there to be no ambiguity on this  point. "Juggling with words" will not lead to anything good. The  major contribution of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to ensuring  security in the zone of its deployment was noted more than once at  the highest level, focusing on its relevance in ensuring the  normalization of the situation. Therefore, attempts to question all  these steps raise big questions>, Zakharova said.

She also noted that against the background of Armenia's recognition  of Karabakh as part of the territory of Azerbaijan, all accusations  against Russia look doubly inappropriate.  Earlier, during a press  conference on July 25, the Prime Minister of Armenia, commenting on  the negotiation process with Baku, noted that recently meetings on  Western platforms prevail, which, according to the head of the RA  government, is related to Russia's military operations in Ukraine. In  addition, according to Pashinyan, he had many telephone conversations  with the US Secretary of State recently.