Armenian & Russian FMs eye Karabakh following latter's visit to Baku

Coinciding with the first anniversary of the Declaration on Allied Cooperation signed between Russia and Azerbaijan last year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a two-day visit to Azerbaijan back on February 27-28.

Besides, the general discussion of the wide specter of bilateral ties, the Russian minister in a tandem with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov held a conference on "Russian-Azerbaijani relations in the 21st century: Strategic partnership in the context of regional security" as part of the 3rd meeting of the Russia-Azerbaijan Expert Council.

The sides discussed the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the peace treaty with Lavrov reiterating that Russia is ready to contribute to the signing of the peace agreement between the two states, noting that Baku has agreed to the next meeting to be held in Moscow. However, he added that Armenia has not stated a clear position on the matter.

Armenia has recently been blunt with its statements against Russia feeling protected behind the backs of the West. Here, commenting on Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan’s remarks about Russia's military presence in Armenia creating security threats for the republic, Lavrov simply noted that they “remain entirely on his own conscience”.

Right after the visit to Baku, the Russian foreign minister met with his Armenian colleague Ararat Mirzoyan in New Delhi.

Here too, the sides talked about the urgency of intensifying efforts in all areas of the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization in accordance with the agreements between the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan dated November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021, and October 31, 2022.