News - MFA spox: Russia ready to provide its platform to Azerbaijan, Armenia representatives for talks

Russia is ready to provide its platform for negotiations between the representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia and will create the most favorable conditions for them. Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), stated this during Wednesday’s weekly press briefing—and commenting on the Azerbaijani president’s statements regarding the peace treaty with Armenia. According to Zakharova, Russia had emphasized back in 2022—specified in the statement by the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan on October 31—the importance of actively preparing for the conclusion of a peace treaty between the countries in order to achieve stable and long-term peace in the region. "At the same time, Russia has also committed to continue providing possible assistance to the process. That is, our approach is not only sustainable, it is recorded also in the document signed by our country. The scope and form of such assistance should be acceptable to each of the negotiating parties, according to the agreements reached, Moscow has repeatedly accepted the phases of the Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiations on the draft peace treaty. We are ready to do it in the future," added Zakharova. She noted that Russia guarantees also the creation of the most comfortable conditions for the work of the two delegations in their preferred bilateral format. At the same time, Russia welcomes the efforts of its Kazakh colleagues, who initiated and held a meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on May 10-11 in Almaty. "Also, we consider the conclusion of a balanced peace treaty between our allies as a prerequisite for building an architecture of inseparable security and sustainable economic development in the region," Zakharova said. In addition, she expressed her hope that the existing disagreements will be resolved as soon as possible in accordance with the bilateral agreements and that successful progress will be made in other domains of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations at the highest level.