Deputy Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Russia Discuss Situation Surrounding Lachin Corridor

Deputy Foreign Ministers Vahe Gevorgyan of Armenia and Mikhail Galuzin of Russia have analyzed the progress of the peace treaty negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two officials discussed the activation of efforts aimed at normalizing relations between Yerevan and Baku.

“A detailed exchange of views took place regarding the situation in the Lachin corridor and more broadly around Nagorno-Karabakh. The progress of work on the draft peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan was analyzed. It was noted that there is a necessity to intensify efforts in all directions of Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations in accordance with high-level trilateral agreements made in 2020-2022,” the statement said.

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had stated that the text of the peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku is not yet ready for signature. He expressed hope that at the scheduled meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on July 21 in Brussels, mediated by European Council President Charles Michel, it would be possible to “materialize the positives” that were achieved during talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries in Washington.

It is worth noting that in 2021, President Aliyev announced his willingness to sign a peace treaty with Armenia. In March 2022, Baku presented its five-point proposal regarding the normalization of relations to Yerevan. The Armenian side added modifications and sent back its version. Since then, several rounds of negotiations at various levels have taken place between the parties.

Recently, high-level Armenian-Azerbaijani meetings have been held in Washington, Brussels, Moscow, and Chișinău. Another round of negotiations took place in the United States from June 27-29. On June 29, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Mirzoyan and Bayramov had reached an agreement on several articles of the draft bilateral agreement “On Peace and the Establishment of Interstate Relations.”