MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/. Russia is poised to organize a trilateral meeting of the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Moscow in the near future to focus on the peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan for a following trilateral summit, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
"We are ready to arrange a trilateral meeting of foreign ministers in Moscow in the near future to discuss how to implement the agreements at the highest level, including the approval of the peace treaty, in order to subsequently proceed to the Russian-Azerbaijani-Armenian summit in Moscow to sign the above mentioned document," the ministry said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that Moscow respects Armenia’s decision to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, "but this has drastically changed the fundamental conditions under which the statement of Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders of November 9, 2020 was signed, as well as the status of the Russian peacekeeping contingent stationed in the region."
"We believe that under these circumstances, the responsibility for the Armenian population in Karabakh should not be shifted to third countries. Drafting a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan based on previous agreements must be immediately started," the statement says.
"We proceed from the fact that the unalienable part of this agreement must be reliable and crystal clear guarantees of the rights and security of Armenians in Karabakh, as well as the unconditional implementation of the entire package of trilateral agreements between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, including the unblocking of transport communications and the launch of the delimitation process on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border," the statement said.
Nagorno-Karabakh
The Russian Foreign Ministry is concerned about the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, which is developing "under a negative scenario."
"The humanitarian crisis in that region is deepening," the ministry said. "The local population is facing serious shortages of food, medicines, and daily essentials. They are in fact left without electricity and gas supply. This may entail the most dramatic repercussions for Karabakh’s Armenians, or ordinary inhabitants of the region."
"We urge the Azerbaijani leadership to take prompt measures so as to immediately unblock the Lachin Corridor and to resume unrestricted traffic of people, vehicles and cargoes in both directions, as well as energy supplies to the region," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27, 2020. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union’s break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the full cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Under the document, Armenia and Azerbaijan stopped at their positions at that moment, a number of districts went under Baku’s control, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the contact line as well as to the Lachin Corridor.