Presence of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh no longer  concerns the Armenian side - Russian FM 

ArmInfo. The issue of the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh no longer concerns the Armenian side, Russian FM Sergei Lavrov stated in New York, answering a question about the future the Russian peacekeepers and the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization.

The Russian minister recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin  personally played a decisive role in how it was possible to stop the  war in November 2020 and how several trilateral  (Armenian-Azerbaijani- Russian) documents were agreed upon at the  highest level. In this vein, he added that they identified the key  parameters of the settlement, including the issue of border  delimitation, unblocking trade and transport routes and the signing  of a peace treaty. Relevant structures have been created at the level  of deputy prime ministers of the three countries to deal with the  economic aspect of the issue.

"Recently, we have seen how, after reaching all these agreements,  Western colleagues decided that it was somehow wrong that Russia was  managing to achieve progress in this direction. They began to lure  Armenians and Azerbaijanis to Brussels, then to Paris, then to  Washington , then to Prague. By the way, in the Czech Republic in  2022, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan signed a document  stating that he recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan  within the borders of 1991. This means that the Nagorno- Karabakh  Autonomous Region (as Karabakh was then called ) is an integral part  of Azerbaijan. This came as a surprise to us. Before this, various  options for a final solution to the problem of the status of Karabakh  were discussed, but the Prime Minister of Armenia did it on his own.  Since then, the question of the status, of what Karabakh is, has been  closed," Lavrov said. 

At the same time, Lavrov admitted that Russia actually still has  peacekeepers in Artsakh, even after "everyone recognized Karabakh as  Azerbaijani territory."

"This issue no longer concerns the Armenian side. This is a matter of  bilateral relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. The presidents  discussed this topic, they agreed that at this stage the presence of  Russian peacekeepers plays a positive role in strengthening  stability, trust in the region and facilitating the return of  residents of Karabakh who want to do this," summed up the head of the  Russian Foreign Ministry. It should be noted that according to the  tripartite statement dated November 9, 2020, the RMKs were supposed  to be present in Artsakh until November 2025, with the possibility of  further extension of the mandate. However, after last year's  September Azerbaijani aggression and dearmenization of the NKR, the  question arose about the future fate of the peacekeepers remaining in  the devastated city.