Russian Foreign Minister reminds once again who recognized Artsakh as  part of Azerbaijan

ArmInfo.No one in the world can prevent anyone from developing relations with other countries, but it should  not be a zero-sum game. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated this at a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan following talks held in Yerevan on May 21.

"You can't come and say, let us offer you a project that interests  you, and in return you stop communicating with another country. This  is not our principle. This is a principle that has been defined since  ancient times as divide and rule. And it is clear that there is  nothing democratic, nothing free in this," the Russian minister said.

When asked why the Russian side did not respond appropriately to the  Azerbaijani aggression against the sovereign territories of Armenia  in the fall of 2022, Lavrov noted that he did not know what was meant  by the word "appropriate", but the CSTO's reaction was immediate.

"As for our obligations to Armenia within the CSTO - this reaction  followed. Immediate. The CSTO group was sent to Armenia to  familiarize itself with the situation, then the CSTO "fact-finding"  headed by the Secretary General went to the site, promptly presented  a report with specific practical proposals on sending a CSTO observer  mission to stabilize the situation there," the Russian diplomat  noted.

He once again recalled that following the visit, a report was  prepared regarding the further actions of the CSTO and it was agreed  upon and submitted for approval to the heads of state at the CSTO  Foreign Ministers' Council in October of the same year in Yerevan.  However, the Armenian side refused to approve it; consensus was not  achieved. "And after some time, already in November 2022, the EU  mission was announced. And  in Prague it was announced that the  position on the affiliation of Nagorno-Karabakh  is determined on a  mutual basis, which was approved by Baku and Yerevan, on the basis of  the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, according to which Nagorno-Karabakh  was  part of Azerbaijan. 

This was quite unexpected because in November 2020, at the height of  the hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia when the Russian  President was editing a ceasefire agreement with the president of  Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia, the matter of the  affiliation of Nagorno-Karabakh was deliberately left out of the  brackets-a gentleman's agreement that the status is subject to  further agreement between the parties. What happened happened. They  do not criticize those who do nothing. We were just trying to do  something," Lavrov said.

In turn, Mirzoyan noted that he could not stay away from this  incredibly important conversation. "This is one of those cases where  we, the two countries, have mutual understanding and common  perceptions on many issues. However, there are issues where the  interpretation of facts  differs. And the attack in the direction of  Jermuk is one such issue, and this event  has become a cornerstone  for further development and positions, including in the context of  freezing membership in the CSTO. Therefore, I would like to take this  opportunity to once again present Armenia's perceptions and  position," he noted. According to Mirzoyan, in August 2022, Russia,  as a mediator, presented a proposal to Armenia and Azerbaijan,  Armenia gave its consent to these proposals, but Azerbaijan did not.

 "It was in  August when we saw that there was no positive stance.   And in the first half of September, an  attack and violation of the  territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia,  a violation of the  internationally recognized borders of the Republic was carried out by  Azerbaijani Armed Forces in the direction of Jermuk. Of course, we  informed our allies about this - both Russia, as a direct ally, and  also our allies within the CSTO. The actions that followed, as I have  already said, were not satisfactory for Armenia. In October, a  quadrilateral meeting was held in Prague, where the perception was  confirmed that Armenia and Azerbaijan mutually recognize territorial  integrity on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration," he said. Then he  presented the current Armenian authorities' interpretation of  this  document, seriously distorting the essence of the Alma-Ata  Declaration, which recognized the states within their current  borders, and not at the time of the collapse of the Union. References  to this document are groundless, as this document contains  reservations regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, and Azerbaijan joined this  declaration in 1993.

"As for the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, the position of the Republic  of Armenia has not been shared by any of the international partners  for many years, including the Russian Federation, which at the  highest level has emphasized that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to  Azerbaijan. The Republic of Armenia does not dispute this approach, I  repeat again that Armenia recognizes the territorial integrity of  Azerbaijan on the basis of the Almaty Declaration and, naturally,  expects and has received assurances from Azerbaijan on the  recognition of Armenia's territorial integrity," Mirzoyan concluded.