Russia actively involved in Nagorno-Karabakh peace process at all  stages - official 

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.