Zakharova Comments on Pashinyan's Statement Regarding Reduced Russian Activity

Russia continues to be interested in advancing the process of normalizing Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. Moreover, discussions about the reduction of priority for certain foreign policy directions for Moscow in light of the Russian military special operation have no factual basis. This statement was made today by Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in response to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's remarks.

On July 25, Pashinyan stated at a press conference that Russian negotiation activity in the framework of normalizing Armenian-Azerbaijani relations has diminished.

“Russia is doing everything to achieve stable peace and agreement in the region, and this fully pertains to the South Caucasus,” Zakharova said.

According to her, how can there be talk of a reduction in activity when there have been a whole series of high-level meetings involving Russia in recent months? On May 25, a trilateral meeting took place between the leaders of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan; on June 2, the 12th meeting of the trilateral working group co-chaired by the deputy prime ministers of the three countries addressed the unblocking of transportation communications; and on May 19 and July 25, there were trilateral negotiations among the foreign ministers.

“Is this a decrease in pace? We must look directly into the eyes of the truth... These are likely evaluative judgments, personal opinions, perhaps emotions, but it is worth paying attention to the facts. The logic is unclear; it creates the impression that everything was unimpeded from the perspective of the Armenian leadership in that direction before 2022,” Zakharova added.