During Official Visit to Russia, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan Visits and Lays Wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier

During his official visit to the Russian Federation, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan visited and laid a wreath at the grave of the Unknown Soldier. This was reported by Anna Naghdalyan, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on her Facebook page.

As noted on the official website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, discussions during Mnatsakanyan's visit are set to cover the entire framework of bilateral cooperation, foreign policy cooperation within EEU, CSTO, and CIS frameworks, positioning in the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, and other international platforms. There will be a substantive exchange of views on international and regional topics.

The implementation of the consultations program between the Russian and Armenian Ministries of Foreign Affairs for 2020-2021 will also be discussed.

One of the key topics of the dialogue will be the discussion of the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The dialogue is aimed at continuing the conversation around creating conditions for de-escalation of tensions in the conflict zone and resuming a substantive negotiation process, including with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group, to develop the agreements reached during the trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia held in Moscow on October 9-10, 2020.

The foreign ministers of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan announced that starting from 12:00 on October 10, a ceasefire for humanitarian purposes will be established for the exchange of prisoners of war and other persons under protection, as well as the bodies of the deceased, facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and in accordance with the standards. “The specific parameters of the ceasefire regime will be agreed upon additionally. The Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia will engage in substantive negotiations based on the fundamental principles of resolution with the aim of achieving a prompt peaceful settlement, with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. The parties reaffirm the invariability of the format of the negotiation process,” the statement noted.

On the evening of October 11, in violation of the humanitarian ceasefire agreement, Azerbaijani armed forces launched assaults in the southern direction using armored vehicles and artillery.