News - Lavrov: If Armenia wants to negotiate directly with Azerbaijan, it is free to do so

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that if the authorities of Armenia want to hold direct talks with Azerbaijan without Russia's participation in order to resolve the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, then it is free to do so, reports TASS. "In the same way, we are now worried that the tripartite agreements signed in several summits of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in 2020-2022 have also failed. I mentioned the resumption of the [regional] transport link, and I also mentioned the tripartite commission that was dealing with it, but it practically no longer meets. Yerevan believes that it should be done directly with Azerbaijan; but if it succeeds, it will be free to do so," said the head of Russian diplomacy, speaking to the faculty and students of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University). Also, Lavrov noted that Russia should be consulted with by the participants of this process regarding the delimitation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border, but this is not happening. "No, they [i.e. Armenia] don't want to. And at the same time, they constantly seek to engage the West, the USA, the European Union, Paris, and engage them in ensuring their patronage of any process. This is their choice, but they should negotiate first with their Azerbaijani neighbors; there is no other way," added the Russian FM. Also, according to the Russian FM, "despite all the differences and disagreements," Russia and its partners "know who is behind what, and there is a desire, and there is already a result related to the convergence of our approaches regarding the development of agreed parallel processes with which, ultimately, will be positive."