Why Armenians protest Lavrov?

/By Azernews/

By Nazrin Gadimova

The recent developments on the contact line of troops between the Armenian and Azerbaijani armies have activated a new round of talks with the mediation of Russia, one of the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group.

‘The four-day war’, which emerged as a result of Armenian provocations towards Azerbaijan, is considered the most violent clash since the ceasefire agreements were signed in 1994 and 1995. Therefore, immediately after the escalation of the situation Russia, which enjoys great influence on Armenia, tried to suppress the conflict.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict firstly in Baku with President Ilham Aliyev and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov and then in Yerevan as part of the two-day visit.

However, the residents of the Armenian capital are not as hospitable as they try to represent to the whole world – the Russian minister was greeted by mass rally. The protesters showed slogans ‘Karabakh is ours!’, ‘Armenia is independent’, while some accused Russia in occupation of Armenia.

Moreover, some demonstrators even burned and trampled Russian flag in protest against Moscow’s cooperation with Azerbaijan. Those engaged in rally explained their actions by the fact that, in their opinion, Lavrov brought to Yerevan ‘anti-Armenian’ plan.

What did Lavrov discuss in Yerevan?

Lavrov met his Armenian counterpart last in Moscow on April 8 as part of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers. On the eve of this event, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the political solution to the Karabakh conflict remains a priority.

On April 21, Lavrov headed to Yerevan to discuss the problem with Serzh Sargsyan and Edward Nalbandian.

Despite the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Minister Maria Zakharova said that Lavrov has prepared some new groundwork and stressed that the Minister never sits at the negotiation table empty-handed, following the talks Nalbandian said that Lavrov did not say anything new.

At the same time, the Russian FM stressed the importance of the so-called roadmap on the long-lasting conflict prepared by the OSCE in 2011, as well as the role of Germany in the settlement process. Moreover, Lavrov said Armenia did not reject the Kazan agreement, which were signed by the parties to the conflict and envisages return of the Azerbaijani territories around Nagorno-Karabakh captured by Armenians during the 1992-1994 war.

Some believes that this plan meets resistance from the Armenian side, but another say that if Moscow exerts pressure on Sargsyan, he will be obliged to return the Azerbaijani territories due to the difficult political and economic situation.