Russia encourages Nagorno-Karabakh- Azerbaijan dialogue- Lavrov
YEREVAN, March 20. /ARKA/. Russia supports Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s position that a dialogue between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan is needed for the settlement of the conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference today with visiting Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.
"We support the position, which was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who said that representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and Baku should themselves negotiate security guarantees and rights for the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh. We encourage the parties to do so, and Armenia is also interested in it," Lavrov said.
Lavrov said it is important to understand the quality of such agreements. As an example, the Russian Foreign Minister cited the Minsk agreements, under which the Russian-speaking residents of the eastern part of Ukraine were to have the right to their native language, to educate their children in their native language, to live and work in their native language environment, to preserve their culture, their religion, and other relations with their compatriots.
"I think that the Nagorno-Karabakh people will need approximately the same set of rights," Lavrov said, noting that everything depends on how decent the implementation of such agreements would be.
After signing the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani officials have had several meetings to discuss exclusively humanitarian issues. The latest meeting was held on March 1, 2023 in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh says that such meetings can take place with the mediation of Russian peacekeepers in the same place as on March 1.
Nagorno-Karabakh says also it is committed to the negotiations aimed at comprehensive settlement of the conflict which should take place in an internationally recognized format under conditions of international guarantees of equality of the sides and fulfillment of commitments. -0-
