Azerbaijani Foreign Minister: Russia wanted to send peacekeepers to  the region as early as October 10, 2020

ArmInfo. The Moscow meeting during the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh was unusual in its level of tension, as stated by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in an interview with ITV,  Azerbaijani media reported.

According to him, the Russian side persistently proposed negotiations  and emphasized the importance of achieving a result. An agreement to  hold the meeting was reached on October 9.

"When the negotiations began, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov  presented the parties with a document. It consisted of only a few  points. On the night of October 10th, it was proposed to cease all  military action, deploy Russian peacekeepers and the Azerbaijani army  on the eastern part of the line of contact, and Russian peacekeepers  and the Armenian army on the western part.

That is, the proposed document already stipulated that as soon as a  ceasefire was declared on the 9th, Russian peacekeepers would be  deployed on both sides immediately-without any additional conditions,  without the withdrawal of Armenian troops, without the liberation of  any territories.

We had completely different instructions from Mr. President. We  proceeded from our position and raised completely different issues.  We are ready to negotiate with Armenia: let the Armenian side present  a schedule for when they plan to withdraw [troops from the occupied  areas]. Tthe Armenian side, Minister Mnatsakanyan, began to express  dissatisfaction, saying that this should not be the case, that  Azerbaijan should return to the situation of September 27th, because  they allegedly will not negotiate under pressure," Bayramov stated.  According to him, between these two positions, Russia seemed to be  taking a more "neutral" position: "No, you don't need to withdraw,  stay where you are, but Russian peacekeepers must remain with you."  And, of course, there were other points: the exchange of prisoners of  war, the return of the bodies of the dead, and other issues.

Bayramov noted that it was crucial for the Armenian side to achieve a  result that day.  "We said we could continue the negotiations the  next day. While we were there, news came in that Hadrut had been  liberated. We were told this news. Fifteen minutes later, we noticed  panic among the members of the Armenian delegation. This was a  remarkable moment. We informed them that Hadrut had been liberated,  because when the Armenian side proposed the 5+2 format (the  liberation of five of the seven occupied regions, with the exception  of Kalbajar and Lachin), we declared that this option was no longer  viable, since Jabrayil and Hadrut had been liberated," the Minister  emphasized.

The negotiations were very tense, and eventually, closer to the  morning, the parties agreed on a document.  Many have probably  already forgotten about this, but from the point of view of  Azerbaijan's interests, this was a document that completely satisfied  us. First of all, the ceasefire was described there only as a  humanitarian truce. That is, it was not about a complete ceasefire. A  humanitarian truce was for the exchange of prisoners of war and the  removal of bodies from the battlefield with the participation of the  International Committee of the Red Cross. Secondly. There was no  mention of peacekeepers or the presence of any third party. And here  Lavrov used the argument: "Okay, you say this, but how can this be  ensured? How can the situation be controlled?" The interesting point  is that Mr. President told us in advance: if there is such an  argument, you will say that all the co-chairing countries are space  powers, they all have satellites, cameras, drones - they can see  everything anyway, and will be able to control who is violating the  regime. We used the same arguments. "The extent to which this had an  impact is another matter, but it was one of the most memorable  details of the negotiations,"  Bayramov said.

The head of Azerbaijan's diplomatic service noted that a parallel  plan was to resume negotiations under the auspices of the Minsk  Group.

"Another very important point, which was significant then (it no  longer matters today), was maintaining the unchanged format of the  negotiations. This point was introduced at the insistence of the  Azerbaijani side.  Why? Because before the war, Armenia had stated:  if Azerbaijan wants to talk, let it talk to the separatists; we have  nothing to do with it. And the establishment of an unchanged format  meant that Armenia had backed down from this position and once again  recognized itself as a party to the negotiations.

The negotiations continued until the morning, and an agreement was  reached that a ceasefire would be declared at 12:00. As soon as the  negotiations concluded, we immediately flew to Baku. At 12:00, as is  known, a ceasefire was declared. Less than half an hour later, the  ceasefire was violated," Bayramov said, noting that after this, the  fighting intensified further.