Valentina Matviyenko on Soviet Maps Held by the Russian Ministry of Defense: Confident Negotiations Possible

According to Valentina Matviyenko, Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia, the main issue today for Armenia and Azerbaijan is to carry out border delimitation in a way that neither side has the desire to resume military actions. As reported by Senatinform.ru, this was stated by the speaker of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament on the eve of the trilateral negotiations between Putin, Pashinyan, and Aliyev, taking place in Sochi on November 25. This statement was made during a bilateral meeting with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament, Sahiba Gafarova, in St. Petersburg as part of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS.

“Russia has offered its assistance, considering that Soviet-era maps are only stored in our Ministry of Defense. They are verified, accurate, and set precise borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan. One can confidently negotiate based on these maps, and both Armenia and Azerbaijan support this approach. There is understanding and agreement, but the process is progressing slowly. For this reason, tension continues to persist,” Matviyenko emphasized, highlighting that Russia is interested in ensuring that the South Caucasus is peaceful, stable, and that people live in peace, and will do everything necessary for this.