Russian FM Discusses Bilateral Ties, Karabakh In Armenia

Radio Free Europe, Czech Rep.
Feb 18 2005

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with President Robert
Kocharian and other Armenian leaders in Yerevan Thursday on an
official visit which focused on bilateral relations and the unresolved
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The talks were also aimed at preparing for Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s upcoming visit to Armenia, his country’s main regional ally.

“We expect a very busy year for our partnership and allied
relationship,” Lavrov said at the end of the one-day trip. “We
have to implement agreements reached by the [Russian-Armenian]
inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation last December.
We agreed to accelerate implementation of all issues agreed by the
parties so that our presidents can see … that their decisions are
put into practice.”

“There are no problems in our relations. But because those relations
are constantly developing they need constant attention,” he added.

“We are happy with the results of the visit. I believe that it will
give an additional impetus to our relations,” Oskanian said for
his part.

Kocharian was quoted by his press office as telling Lavrov that
he is satisfied with the current state of bilateral ties and hopes
that Russia will help to lift transport blockades resulting from the
unresolved ethnic conflicts in the South Caucasus.

The most intractable of those conflicts was a major theme of the
talks. “We hope that the so-called Prague process of regular meetings
between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will bear
fruit,” Lavrov said. “The co-chairs of the OSCE’s Minsk Group are
ready to foster that. We will do our best to make sure that the
process progresses successfully.”

“Sergei Lavrov is a minister who probably knows more [about the
Karabakh peace process] than I,” Oskanian joked at their joint
news conference, underlining Moscow’s role as a key international
mediator. He announced that his next meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in Prague will take place on March 2.

Economic issues were another subject of discussions, with Kocharian
and Prime Minister Andranik Markarian again calling on the Russians
to speed up work on reactivating four of five moribund Armenian
enterprises which were handed over to them two years ago in payment
for Armenia’s $100 million debt. Markarian also expressed concern
at Russia’s plans to finance a new railway to Iran that would bypass
Armenia and run through its arch-rival Azerbaijan

Lavrov, who revealed to reporters last year that his father was a
Tbilisi-born Armenian, assured Markarian that “Russia will take into
account Armenia’s interests and will not take any steps that would
damage them,” according to an Armenian government statement.

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