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    Talar Tumanian
  • 3 years ago
    • Categories: 2021

Baku, Yerevan should tone down mutual rhetoric to reach settlement — Russian top diplomat

TASS, Russia
Aug 31 2021
Sergey Lavrov also added that Moscow thinks that it is fundamentally important to encourage humanitarian connections between Armenia and Azerbaijan at all levels

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. Azerbaijan and Armenia should substantially tone down the rhetoric addressed to each other in the interests of a final peaceful settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan. 

"Certainly, it is necessary to seriously, substantially tone down the rhetoric from both sides. This will create the conditions for the final, complete settlement, I do not doubt this," he emphasized.

The Russian top diplomat noted the significance of the work of the trilateral working group on Karabakh to restore trust between the sides. "Currently, I am proceeding from the premise that we are not talking about renewing the process, we are talking about implementing what had already been signed, and, above all, about the necessity to ensure reliable security and, of course, to begin restoring trust. Here a special role is played by the trilateral working group at the level of deputy prime ministers on unblocking transport communications and economic links. This will be a very important measure which would allow the sides to treat the events more constructively," the foreign minister pointed out.

He also added that Moscow thinks that it is fundamentally important to encourage humanitarian connections between Armenia and Azerbaijan at all levels. He suggested that a question about any scheduled meetings between the sides should be addressed to Baku and Yerevan.

In the fall of 2020, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated with armed clashes occurring on the disputed territory. On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held, a number of regions would be controlled by Azerbaijan, and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region along the line of engagement and the Lachin corridor.

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