Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions following talks with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, Moscow, April 8, 2022

Esteemed Mr Minister,

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

April 3, a few days ago, marked 30 years since Russia and the Republic of Armenia established diplomatic relations. This year, it will be 25 years since the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. These are landmarks in the development of our allied relations and strategic partnership. We were pleased to note that we have been holding various events devoted to these remarkable dates, and that they evoke great interest among our citizens.

We appreciate the invariably trustworthy and regular political dialogue between President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. They have talked by telephone almost two dozen times this year alone. They will be resuming their personal meetings soon, and we have discussed preparations for such meetings.

We noted the well-coordinated and effective work of the co-chairs of the Russian-Armenian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation – Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk and Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan.

Our ministries, departments and parliaments continue to develop their contacts and expand the range of issues of common interest. The bilateral Inter-Parliamentary Commission on Cooperation plans to hold its 34th meeting before the end of this month.

Russia is Armenia’s leading trade and investment partner. Our share in Armenia’s foreign trade exceeds 30 percent. We were pleased to note that after the coronavirus pandemic-triggered decline, we managed to return our trade to the path of sustainable growth. In 2021, our trade amounted to $2.6 billion (we should probably estimate this in other currencies, but we will agree on this with you later). Our key areas of cooperation include energy, nuclear energy, ore mining, transport and logistics. We agreed to encourage direct contact between businesses in every way. Their cooperation is close and we believe that our governments must give them comprehensive support in the current conditions.

We will continue encouraging the regions of Russia and Armenia to maintain direct contact. About 20 Russian regions have cooperation agreements with partners in Armenia. We positively assess the practice of holding the annual interregional forums.

We will continue to deepen our cooperation in culture, education, information, tourism and sport. In 2022, we plan to install a United for Ages monument to Russian-Armenian friendship in Yerevan. Armenian Culture Days in Russia are being planned. In turn, our Armenian friends will hold Russian Spiritual Culture Days in their country.

As requested by Yerevan, we are helping open more Russian-language schools in the republic. We are interested in the Armenian government providing continued support for the Russian language. We agreed to expand academic and student exchanges and discussed the course of preparations for the 8th Russian-Armenian Youth Forum.

We discussed pressing international issues from close or, in most cases, overlapping positions. We are prepared to strengthen cooperation between our foreign ministries. We have just signed another Plan of Consultations, which will help promote this work and the exchange of views on a systematic basis.

We highly appreciate the level of cooperation in regional organisations such as the CSTO (Armenia is currently the chair), the EAEU and the CIS. We have discussed preparations for this year’s CSTO ministerial and presidential events.

We covered in detail the situation in the South Caucasus and stressed the importance of full compliance with the agreements reached by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on November 9, 2020, January 11, 2021 and November 26, 2021. We reiterated the importance of the Russian peacekeeping contingent fully complying with its mandate. We touched on issues that were discussed at the level of our leaders, including the creation of a Commission on Delimiting the Armenian-Azerbaijani Border and further steps to strengthen confidence-building and stability measures in the border area, a principled agreement which was reached in Sochi in November 2021. We hope that this commission will be created soon. At least, we do not see any obstacles to this.

It is necessary to continue to address humanitarian challenges and issues involved in resuming meetings within the Trilateral Working Group co-chaired by the deputy prime ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. This group agrees on the specific parameters of resuming transport and economic ties. We learned today that the next meeting of the trilateral group, at the deputy prime minister level, will be held this month.

Russia is prepared to help promote the efforts undertaken by Yerevan and Baku regarding the creation of proper conditions for concluding a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We discussed in detail ways in which we can help our neighbours launch this process. We also welcome the process of normalising relations between Yerevan and Ankara, which should help improve the overall situation in our common region.

We noted the successful launch of the 3+3 Consultative Regional Platform, which includes the countries of the South Caucasus, Russia, Iran and Turkey. We share the common opinion that this platform opens up more opportunities for establishing a dialogue and developing multi-pronged cooperation between all the countries of the South Caucasus and their neighbours. We reiterated our interest in having our Georgian colleagues join this promising format, I mean, the consultative regional 3+3 platform, directly.

We discussed the situation in Ukraine and around it. We regularly update our friends in detail on the course of the special military operation aimed at protecting the residents of the DPR and the LPR from a military threat and demilitarising Ukraine in the context of ensuring security guarantees that do not imply an aligned status, and about ways to ensure Ukraine’s neutral non-nuclear status using guarantees that do not involve NATO. We are sharing all this and explaining in detail our practical steps. No doubt, the most uncompromising measures must be taken in Ukraine to stop the gross discrimination against the rights of the Russian-speaking people in Ukraine, as well as the rights of other ethnic minorities, to stop the discrimination against the Russian language and to stop encouraging neo-Nazi ideology and practices.

I updated my colleague and friend Ararat Mirzoyan on the latest developments in the ongoing talks between the Russian and the Ukrainian delegation. They are not easy, but we will strive to ensure that all the goals of these talks are fulfilled.

I am satisfied with the results of our meeting, and I wish to thank my colleague for cooperation.

Question: What is your position on the OSCE Minsk Group’s future as a format and the priorities of its co-chairs? When can it be expected to start playing a more proactive role?

Sergey Lavrov: I do not know what the future holds for this format. Our French and American “partners” within this group have been caught up in a Russophobic frenzy and seek to cancel everything relating to the Russian Federation. They cancelled the troika of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, refusing to work with us in this format. They are in their own right. If they are ready to sacrifice the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and South Caucasus in general, which in this case means sacrificing Armenia’s interests, this is their choice.

This refers to more than just this specific conflict. Their Russophobic policies hold all other crises around the world hostage. They are forcing everyone to stop working with us in any association just to prove that they can impose their unilateral will. This is an irresponsible approach, in my opinion. However, none of this will succeed in throwing us off our stride.

We uphold our unwavering commitment to facilitating a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh and fulfilling all the trilateral agreements reached by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. If the United States and France decided to act otherwise, let God be their judge.

Question: On March 24, 2022, Azerbaijan violated the line of contact and entered the area under the responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping force in Nagorno-Karabakh, specifically, Parukh and its surroundings, in violation of the Trilateral Statement. Azerbaijan’s forces have not returned to their initial position despite the calls to do so from the Russian Defence Ministry and others. What steps is Russia taking to ensure that Azerbaijan’s forces return to their initial position, as well as for preventing incidents of this kind from happening in the future? It is worth noting that more than 400 people are unable to return to their homes due to these developments.

Sergey Lavrov: The incident took place on March 24, 2022. When it started, we moved quickly to announce that the Russian peacekeeping force on the ground was investigating the circumstances. We discussed this issue today. The circumstances remain unclear. I would prefer not to jump ahead with any definitive conclusions.

We are certain that the Russian peacekeeping force enjoys the full trust of our Armenian friends. Statements here and there on holding this force accountable or launching an official investigation against it do not reflect the way the people of Armenia and its leadership view the important role the Russian peacekeeping force has been playing in ensuring stability in this region.

Minor incidents do happen. We are trying to understand what happened in this specific case through military-to-military channels. We need to clarify some matters.

Question: At the talks in Brussels, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to establish a bilateral commission on border demarcation and delimitation before the end of April. You also mentioned the importance of this process. Will Russia take any part in this, given that the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia has the necessary maps for this. 

Sergey Lavrov: From the beginning, we have proceeded from the premise that all preparations for delimitation and the unblocking of trade, economic and transport connections and normalisation of relations between Yerevan and Baku were determined by the agreements reached at the trilateral meetings between President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

As for delimitation, the three leaders agreed to establish a relevant commission before the end of 2021 at their meeting in Sochi in November 2021 (this was officially announced at the news conference after the meeting). And this was repeated in Brussels. A statement released by President of the European Council Charles Michel said this would be done before the end of April. I asked our colleague whether this coincided with the agreement made by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and he said the situation was developing along these lines. I would like our European colleagues in Brussels to understand that this line was created by the three leaders in 2020 and 2021, and I hope they will not create roadblocks or any other impediments.

I noted that the statement published by Mr Michel, after his meeting with the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia, does not make any mention of the Russian Federation. This shows what is more important to EU leaders – to develop what was achieved or to exploit the Karabakh issue in their Russophobic policy. This is sad. Russia will never sacrifice the interests of its closest allies to some geopolitical schemes or propaganda or other games. We are fully committed to helping Armenia and Azerbaijan bring their lives back to normal.

Delimitation is part of this effort. Our colleagues and we confirmed today that the decision of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on the delimitation commission remains valid. This commission will be bilateral but with Russia’s consultative participation. This is so not only because the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia has the maps that Yerevan and Baku are prepared to use but also for the simple reason that our common lives on this territory over centuries leads us to believe that such issues will be resolved better in this format.

I am beginning to learn how Brussels positions itself, and not just on delimitation issues. Mr Michel promoted trilateral trade, economic and transport projects and spoke about the EU’s role in furthering the peace treaty. We are already familiar with this purely European courtesy. Mr Mirzoyan cited a statement by Azerbaijan to the effect that the troika of co-chairs has ceased to exist. I have not heard this statement by Azerbaijan, but I consider it a fact because the French and American representatives said this as part of the troika.

I don’t know in what words they expressed their statement, but the fact remains that they have sacrificed the destiny of the region to their Russophobic goals, or at least sacrificed the role that the troika could have played in the future of the region. They have made their priorities clear enough.

Question: Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said he conveyed Minsk’s position on Belarus’ mandatory involvement in the talks with Ukraine to Moscow and Kiev. What does Moscow think about this? Does this mean that the next in-person meeting will be held in Belarus? Have other countries, such as Turkey or Hungary, been considered? When can this meeting take place?

Sergey Lavrov: We want our Belarusian friends to continue playing a positive role in setting up Russian-Ukrainian talks. Belarus is a great place for these talks to continue.

It all depends on what the parties agree upon. Meetings in other countries or at other venues are not ruled out. I’m not going to go into the details of the negotiating process and its content. We have already done so several times within certain boundaries.

I just want to say that at the request of the Ukrainian side, its neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status should go hand-in-hand with the guarantees for Ukraine’s security. Our Ukrainian neighbours would like to see all the states bordering on that country and a number of others, including the UN Security Council permanent members, among the guarantors.

We proposed including the Republic of Belarus on the list of such guarantor countries. All these issues, including the full list of guarantor countries, are being agreed upon. We support Belarus being one of them.