RPA vice-chairman critical of RF FM over his position on  Nagorno-Karabakh 

ArmInfo.  Arguments in the style of "since he is still the Prime Minister, it means the people agree with his policy" do not work. This is how Deputy Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Armen Ashotyan commented on the article by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, published today in Novaya Gazeta, which includes a section on Nagorno- Karabakh.

Ashotyan noted that he read with great interest Lavrov's article  dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act and the  creation of the OSCE.

"The subject of my modest reaction to Minister Lavrov's programmatic  article is not so much a global assessment of the organization's  activities - in this regard, I will allow myself to agree with many  of the arguments presented by the minister - as the regional  dimension of the OSCE mandate in the person of its Minsk Group for  the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Ashotyan noted.

The RPA Deputy Chairman believes that Lavrov's assessment of the work  of the only international legitimate format for finding a mutually  acceptable solution to the most long-standing and bloody conflict on  the territory of the former Soviet Union is frankly discouraging with  its double standards, washing his hands and attempting to remove  responsibility from himself - in the best traditions of Western  diplomacy, so disliked by Mr. Lavrov, and an actual repetition of  Aliyev's (sic!) narrative about the activities of the OSCE Minsk  Group.

Speaking about the policy of double standards, the Armenian  politician noted that assessing the work of the Minsk Group as "the  OSCE failed in Nagorno-Karabakh as well. The Minsk Group was unable  to create conditions for dialogue between the conflicting parties:",  the respected minister literally a paragraph above, mentioning the  Transnistrian conflict, despite the unresolved nature of the problem,  not only refrains from such harsh and uncompromising statements, but  also expresses his regret about the future of the "5 + 2" format,  which, in his words, is being "killed" by Western partners. "

Another example of double standards in the article are the numerous  references to the principle of the inviolability of borders and the  silence on the principle of the right of people to  self-determination, mentioned in the same Helsinki Final Act as one  of the 10 principles. Such one-sidedness is surprising, since  high-ranking Russian officials, including Mr. Lavrov, very often  refer to the principle of self- determination in the context of the  war in Ukraine and thereby support their diplomatic position. Let me  remind you that this principle is one of the three pillars on which  the OSCE Minsk Group developed the basic principles for the  settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Ashotyan noted.

According to him, while rightly criticizing the silence of the West,  including the OSCE institutions, regarding religious persecution in  various members of the organization, Mr. Lavrov mentions the  persecution of the Estonian Orthodox Church, while bypassing the  attacks of the current Armenian regime on the Armenian Apostolic  Church.

"In addition, if, according to Lavrov, the OSCE Minsk Group was  ineffective, then it should be remembered that this group, consisting  of nine states, delegated its main powers to the three co-chairs,  among which the Russian Federation played a leading role. Moreover,  Lavrov himself participated in dozens of meetings in both bilateral  and multilateral formats, the purpose of which was to develop a  mutually acceptable formula for a fair resolution of this conflict,"  the politician noted.

In this vein, he added that it is no secret that numerous proposals  by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs were torpedoed by the destructive  approach of the Azerbaijani leadership, in response to which the  co-chairs, including Russia, refrained from at least publicly  criticizing Aliyev and from effective measures to influence the  Azerbaijani position. Ashotyan is sure that this contributed to the  prolongation of the conflict, the undermining of the authority of the  co-chairs in the international arena and the unpunished cynicism of  the Azerbaijani leadership.

"As painful and sad as it may be, it should also be mentioned that  after the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, the main  initiative to maintain peace in the region passed to the Russian  Federation. Yes, before the start of the Joint Military Operations,  the OSCE Minsk Group continued to function. This is confirmed by a  number of statements and meetings of the group's co-chairs. However,  "on the ground", both the political, military and humanitarian  components of the conflict were under decisive Russian influence. And  no one has canceled additional Russian obligations in this context,"  the RPA Deputy Chairman believes. 

Touching upon the position of official Baku, Ashotyan admitted that  President Aliyev had criticized the activities of the OSCE Minsk  Group before, but after the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh and  the de- Armenization of the region, the rhetoric of the Azerbaijani  leadership violates both the specific principles of the Helsinki  Final Act and is full of cynicism and impudence towards the group's  co-chair countries.

"It is strange that Minister Lavrov's position on the assessment of  the ineffective activities of the OSCE Minsk Group so strikingly  coincides with the position of the Azerbaijani president, especially  in the context of a new round of tension in Russian-Azerbaijani  relations. The attitude to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as  "resolved" is not only a factual replica of the Azerbaijani position,  but also legitimizes the war crimes of Azerbaijan, its violation of  international law and the undeniable fact of the ethnic cleansing of  the Armenians of Karabakh. While fully sharing the assessments of the  guilt of the current Armenian leadership in this situation, voiced by  the leaders of Russia earlier, I cannot ignore the fact that even the  Prague recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan by  Pashinyan does not relieve international organizations and the de  jure acting co-chairs of the Minsk Group of responsibility for the  fate of the forcibly displaced Armenians of Karabakh, for their right  to return, for international guarantees for the preservation of their  cultural and spiritual heritage and for their security in the  future," the Armenian politician is sure.

Ashotyan regretfully noted that neither in this article nor in other  public statements by the head of the Russian MFA is there any  evidence of this responsibility and readiness to defend the rights of  the unjustly oppressed, who believed in both international  institutions and in the "fatefulness" of the Russian presence of the  Karabakh Armenians.

"Dear Minister Lavrov, Mistakes, miscalculations and outright  betrayal of national interests by the Pashinyan regime do not relieve  the Armenian people, their friends and allies, of responsibility for  the situation. Otherwise, the impression created over the years that  the adventurist line pursued by Nikol Pashinyan, at a minimum, enjoys  tacit consent, or even actual encouragement from Russia, will only be  strengthened. 

Nikol Pashinyan is not the entire Armenian people, arguments in the  style of "since he is still the prime minister, it means the people  agree with his policy" do not work. There is the example of the same  Ukraine, where Russian policy does not identify the entire Ukrainian  people with President Zelensky," Ashotyan concluded.