Lavrov: After Pashinyan Recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as Part of Azerbaijan, the Status Question is Closed

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated at a press conference following the events at the UN Security Council that President Putin played a decisive role in the cessation of the war in November 2020 and in the negotiation of several tripartite documents at the highest level—Armenian-Azerbaijani-Russian—that outlined key parameters for the resolution, including border delimitation, the unblocking of trade and transport routes, and the signing of a peace treaty.

He noted that relevant structures have been established at the level of Deputy Prime Ministers of the three countries to address the economic aspects of these issues.

“Recently, we saw that after securing all these agreements, Western partners decided that it was somehow incorrect for Russia to achieve progress in this direction, and they began to entice Armenians and Azerbaijanis to Brussels, then Paris, then Washington, and then Prague. Interestingly, in 2022, in Prague, Prime Minister Pashinyan signed a document recognizing Azerbaijan's territorial integrity within the borders of 1991. This means that Nagorno-Karabakh, as it was then referred to, is an inseparable part of Azerbaijan,” Lavrov said.

According to him, this was a surprise for Russia. “This was a surprise for us because up until this point, different options for the final resolution of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh were being discussed. The Prime Minister of Armenia acted independently. After that, the question of status and what Nagorno-Karabakh is is closed,” he added.