Russian diplomat on Azerbaijan’s Aliyev's threats against Armenia: "We think it important to refrain from provocative rhetoric”
YEREVAN, November 24. /ARKA/. In response to a question from journalists on continued threats by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev against Armenia, Russian Foreign Ministry’s representative Maria Zakharova told a press briefing today that refraining from provocative rhetoric was important because otherwise it could flare up the tension between the two countries.
"Russia maintains regular contacts with both sides at the political level, including heads of state, foreign ministers, and on the ground through a Russian peacekeeping contingent (deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh) and the Russian border service to prevent new armed incidents," she added.
Zakharova added that Russia proceeds from the necessity of strict observance of the trilateral statements made by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia in 2020, 2021 and 2022, including the latest one made at the Sochi summit in late October not to use or threaten to use force. She said Russia will continue making efforts to normalize relations between Yerevan and Baku.
Zakharova said also that Russian Foreign Minister's special representative for normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations Igor Khovayev was discussing the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty in Baku.
She recalled that Khovayev met with top Armenian officials in Yerevan last week and is now in Baku with the same purpose. Zakharova noted that the subject of the peace treaty, as well as other issues of Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization are sensitive.
"We consider it inexpedient to comment on the views of the parties before reaching concrete agreements," she said.
According to the statement adopted following the October 31 summit of Russian and Azerbaijani presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the parties reaffirmed their commitment to strict observance of all the earlier reached agreements in the interests of comprehensive normalization of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, ensuring peace, stability, security and sustainable economic development of the South Caucasus.
The parties agreed to refrain from the use or threat of use of force, to discuss and solve all problems exclusively on the basis of mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders in accordance with the UN Charter and the Almaty Declaration of 1991, and also stressed the importance of active preparation for the conclusion of a peace treaty between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia.
The parties agreed to make additional efforts to urgently resolve outstanding tasks, including the humanitarian issues, and also noted the key contribution of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to ensuring security in its area of deployment and stressed the need for its efforts to stabilize the situation in the region. -0-
