Category: 2023

Turkey –

MOSCOW

Russia will continue to provide “all possible assistance” for the normalization of ties between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said on Saturday.

"We hope that such regular contacts will allow us to reach final peace agreements," Galuzin said in an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency.

Asked about a May 3 drone attack on the Kremlin, which Russia claimed was carried out by Ukraine, Galuzin said: "By its actions, the Kyiv regime has once again demonstrated that no international legal, universal and moral norms mean anything to it. As we understand it, these steps of the Ukrainian authorities were not coordinated with their Western masters, who were afraid of a possible escalation of the conflict. However, none of them publicly condemned this sabotage.”

Galuzin named conditions necessary for the achievement of lasting peace in Ukraine – the country's neutral status, refusal from joining the EU and NATO, recognition of "new territorial realities," protection of the rights of Russian-speaking people and national minorities, and protection of freedom of faith.

He also criticized Kyiv's crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, claiming Ukrainian officials have been intimidating its clergymen and waging a smear campaign against them in the media.

"The height of madness, cynicism and bacchanalia was the decision made on May 24 … on the transition to the New Julian calendar. Now Ukrainian schismatics (formally Orthodox) will celebrate Christmas not on January 7, but on December 25 together with Catholics and Protestants," he said.

Asked about relations between Russia and Moldova, Galuzin said they have been deteriorating due to an increase in the “discriminatory policy” of Moldovan authorities toward the Russian-speaking population of the republic and Russian citizens arriving in Moldova.

The official also voice concern about possible provocations in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria, saying the situation around the region is “complicated.”

"We are closely monitoring the situation on the Dniester and warn of the futility of attempts to destabilize the situation. … There should be no doubt that the Russian armed forces will respond adequately to the provocation of the Kyiv regime, should one happen," he said.

Galuzin warned that any actions that pose a threat to the security of the Russian peacekeepers in Transnistria “will be considered, in line with international law, as an attack on the Russian Federation.”

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/russia-ukraine-war/russia-hopes-regular-contacts-will-contribute-to-azerbaijan-armenia-peace-deal/2907416

CGTN, China

Russia –

May 25 2023

May 25 2023

 Faizan Hashmi  Published May 25, 2023 | 01:20 pm

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 25th May, 2023) The West is trying in every possible way to interfere in the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh and discredit the Russian peacekeeping efforts in the conflict-torn region, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday.

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/west-trying-to-discredit-russias-peacekeepin-1697295.html

May 25 2023

Reuters - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during a meeting in Moscow on Thursday that there are serious grounds for normalizing relations with Armenia based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity.

May 25 2023

 Sumaira FH  Published May 25, 2023 | 01:20 PM

MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik – 25th May, 2023) It is important that Armenia take part in joint military exercises within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday.

"Armenia is a member of our organization, our ally.

We are interested in establishing peace and are doing everything possible to stabilize the situation in the Transcaucasus. At the same time, I would especially like to note the importance of the participation of the Armenian side in joint operational and combat training activities within the framework of the CSTO," Shoigu said at a meeting of CSTO defense ministers in Minsk.

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/shoigu-notes-importance-of-armenias-particip-1697299.html

May 25 2023

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to recognise their territorial borders, RIA Novosti reports.

"I want to confirm that Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on the mutual recognition of each other's territorial integrity, and on this basis, we can say that we are moving quite well towards the settlement of our relations,” he said.

The prime minister of Armenia also set out a hope for a constructive dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert (the capital of the unrecognised Nagorno Karabakh Republic — ed.) to ensure the rights and security of Nagorno Karabakh residents within the framework of the international mechanism.

There are serious prerequisites for the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia to improve and normalise as long as the countries officially agree to recognise each other's territorial integrity, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council.

According to Aliyev, Azerbaijan has no territorial claims against Armenia today. Therefore, the two countries may sign a peace treaty.

"There is an opportunity to reach a peace agreement, given that Armenia has recognised Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan,” the president said.

On April 18, Pashinyan announced that Armenia would recognise the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within the borders of the Soviet era. During his report to the parliament, he said that peace in the region could be possible only if Yerevan could legally acknowledge its territory as 29.8 thousand square kilometres of the Armenian SSR, within the borders of which the republic gained independence in 1991.

Armenian opposition movement accused Pashinyan of giving up on Nagorno Karabakh. The disputed region was part of the Azerbaijan SSR. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was recognised as part of Azerbaijan. After the end of the first Karabakh war in 1994, the region came under Armenia's control. Armenia supported the independence of the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh Republic, but did not legally recognise it as such.

Negotiations on a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been going on for several years. In 2020, the Azerbaijani army occupied a number of large cities in the unrecognised republic, including the city of Shushi. In November 2020, the parties, through the mediation of Russia, managed to conclude a ceasefire agreement, and a Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed on the demarcation line.

The status of Nagorno Karabakh remained unsettled, and the parties repeatedly accused each other of shelling. In January of 2023, Azerbaijan conveyed its proposals to Armenia for a peace agreement and expressed readiness to resume negotiations as soon as possible.

Reuters - 

MOSCOW — 

The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia argued openly in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in exchanges that underlined the extent of their differences over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

At a meeting in Moscow, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan raised the issue of the Lachin corridor, the road which links Armenia to the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh inside Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani activists in mid-December began obstructing the road, which Pashinyan noted should be under the control of Russian peacekeepers, and Baku subsequently erected a checkpoint along it.

"Azerbaijan, unfortunately, has blocked this corridor," Pashinyan said at a round-table meeting of the Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow.

Azberbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev responded: "Azerbaijan did not block any corridor… There is no need to use this platform for unfounded accusations."

The two leaders continued arguing for several minutes before Putin closed off the conversation, noting that the topic was sensitive. He was due to host three-way talks with Aliyev and Pashinyan later.

"We will now have the opportunity, as we agreed, to talk about everything calmly in a businesslike manner in a trilateral format, and I hope to reach some agreements that will put the situation not only between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also in the region, on the path of constructive development," Putin said. "I can assure you that everyone here has an interest in this, absolutely everyone."

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at loggerheads for three decades, fighting two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh. In recent months, both sides have expressed increasing willingness to sign a permanent peace agreement, even as regular skirmishes have continued.

Minutes before the testy exchanges with Pashinyan, Aliyev had said there were "serious grounds for the normalisation of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the basis of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and sovereignty".