MOSCOW, June 5. /TASS/. Russia confirms its readiness to render its support regarding the reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told TASS on Wednesday.

According to Galuzin, the Russian side positively assesses the May 10-11 meeting of foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov respectively in Kazakhstan on the promotion of a peace treaty.

"That meeting provided for an opportunity of the involved parties to move towards peace and stability in the South Caucasus. Another important step has been taken," Galuzin said in an interview with TASS.

"Moscow has already hosted two rounds of peace talks between Baku and Yerevan and it was in May 2023 and July 2023," he continued.

"We are ready to continue providing our full support to the reconciliation of Russia's two brotherly peoples, to promote the search for mutually acceptable and balanced solutions in order to ensure the security and prosperity of all countries in the region," Galuzin added.

On April 17, Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev said that the leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia decided to withdraw the Russian peacekeeping contingent from Karabakh ahead of schedule. He noted that the defense ministries of the two countries are taking relevant measures to implement this decision.

The Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed in Karabakh according to the statement signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on November 9, 2020. It had 1,960 servicemen with small arms, 90 armored personnel carriers, 380 units of equipment. The term of the contingent's stay was set for five years with automatic extension for another five-year period, unless either side declares six months before the expiration of the term its intention to terminate the application of this provision.

On April 19, the Armenian and Azerbaijani commissions on the state border demarcation issued a joint press release after their meeting, stating that the border delimitation in the areas of Armenia’s Baganis village, Azerbaijan’s Baganis Ayrim, Armenia’s Voskepar, Azerbaijan’s Asagi Askipara, Armenia’s Kirants, Azerbaijan’s Kheirimli, Armenia’s Berkaber, Azerbaijan’s Gizilgadzhili has been provisionally agreed upon.

In fact, this means the transfer to Azerbaijani control of four villages that were part of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and have been under Armenian control since the 1990s.

After that, protests were staged in Yerevan and the Tavush province.