Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Wednesday that he saw a possibility for holding a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Azerbaijani colleagues in the near future

YEREVAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 22nd March, 2023) Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Wednesday that he saw a possibility for holding a trilateral meeting with his Russian and Azerbaijani colleagues in the near future.

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with Mirzoyan that Moscow would soon begin negotiating the terms of a trilateral meeting between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan at the level of foreign ministers.

"Such a (trilateral) meeting was to take place on December 23 in Moscow. But we postponed our participation and the meeting itself, as the Lachin corridor was illegally blocked and an acute shortage of food, medicine and essential goods began in Nagorno-Karabakh … But face-to-face meetings and discussions should resume at some stage. This topic was discussed (during the talks) in Moscow, and there is a possibility of such a meeting in the near future," Mirzoyan said, speaking in parliament.

He noted that negotiations with Azerbaijan were taking place remotely now, as the parties were exchanging their proposals and views on the peace treaty.

Mirzoyan called his meeting with Lavrov quite constructive and sincere, adding that issues of bilateral relations and regional problems had also been discussed.

Besides, the minister said that Yerevan was waiting for the unblocking of the Lachin corridor linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. He added that, according to the tripartite statement by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan dated November 9, 2020, the corridor was controlled by the Russian peacekeepers, and Azerbaijan had pledged to guarantee unhindered movement through it.

Since December 2022, the Lachin Corridor � a road which runs through Azerbaijani territory and serves as the only link between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh � has been blocked by a group of people from Azerbaijan described by Baku as environmental activists protesting alleged illegal Armenian mining in the area.

The United Nations' main judicial body ruled in February that Azerbaijan must ensure unimpeded movement along the Lachin Corridor. Armenia, in turn, argued in the court filing that the activists were acting on Baku's command and demanded that it "cease its orchestration and support" of the blockade.