Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on July 7, 2021
Yerevan Urges Immediate Visit by UNESCO Delegation
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Wednesday discussed Armenia’s recent appeal to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to facilitate peace talks with Azerbaijan. Official Yerevan also urged UNESCO to implement a mission to the region as soon as possible.
Putin and Pashinyan, who spoke via telephone, discussed the situation in Artsakh, according to a press statement from the prime minister’s office, which said that they “referred to the implementation process of the agreements stipulated in the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021.”
The Armenian and Russian leaders also exchanged views on the Armenia-Turkey normalization process, as well as the latest regional developments, including the situation in Ukraine.
Pashinyan is due in Moscow for an official visit next month. Issues regarding that trip were also discussed during the phone conversation.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, who is on a working visit to Paris, met with UNESCO’s Director-General Audrey Azoulay on Wednesday.
During the meeting, the sides discussed the deliberate destruction of the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage and distortion of identity in the territories that have fallen under Azerbaijani control following the 2020 war, the foreign ministry said in a press statement.
In addressing Baku’s decision to establish a state task force to appropriate Armenian cultural infrastructure, Mirzoyan stressed the urgent need for UNESCO’s intervention.
Mirzoyan reportedly told Azoulay that her organization’s unimpeded involvement in the conflict zone in order to preserve and prevent vandalism of the historical and cultural monuments of Artsakh was critical.
“The implementation of a fact-finding mission in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone proposed by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay in line with the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two adjunct protocols of 1954 was emphasized,” Armenia’s foreign ministry said.