ArmInfo.Armenia and Azerbaijan are now working on Russia's proposals for deescalating the situation in the region, Denis Gonchar, Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Fourth CIS Department, told TASS.
"The latest contacts at the level of the foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on July 25 in Moscow took place against the backdrop of an extremely difficult situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Without revealing sensitive details, I can say that our side proposed compromise solutions to de-escalate tensions, which the parties took into "home study," he said. "We hope that humanitarian considerations, concern for ordinary people will outweigh the political differences between Baku and Yerevan."
The diplomat drew attention to the fact that Russia at all stages took an active part in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "In November 2020, with the assistance of Russia and the personal participation of President Vladimir Putin, the foundations of the current stage of reconciliation between Azerbaijan and Armenia were laid, in 2020-2022 a roadmap for Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization was developed based on a set of tripartite agreements between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia," the diplomat said.
Gonchar also noted that the Russian side continues vigorous mediation efforts on all tracks, including unblocking economic and transport communications in the region, launching the process of delimiting the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, agreeing on a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan, developing a dialogue between public representatives and experts. "Not everything is moving as fast as we would like, but this is understandable given the array of problems and contradictions that have accumulated over the years of the conflict," he continued.
With regard to unblocking economic and transport communications in the South Caucasus, the diplomat noted, these issues are being discussed in detail through the Trilateral Working Group (TWG) co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. He said that the last TWG meeting took place on June 2 in Moscow. "According to its results, the parties stated significant progress in agreeing on the modalities for unblocking transport communications between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in particular, a common understanding was reached on the implementation of specific steps to restore and organize the railway communication along the Yeraskh - Julfa - Meghri - Horadiz route," the director of the department said. "During the tripartite meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in Moscow on July 25, this topic was also touched upon, on our part, a wish was expressed to move this work to the design stage as soon as possible."
According to him, Russia strives to ensure "that all agreements on this track be on parity." "None of the parties should have the feeling that someone has received more. Unblocking transport communications, first of all, railways, will help unlock the huge economic potential of the South Caucasus and give a powerful impetus to all other areas of trilateral work," Gonchar said.