Baku and Yerevan are "ready on a mutual basis" to provide guarantees for ensuring the rights of national minorities in their territories, Russian Foreign Minister said in a statement Tuesday, July 25, after hosting his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov for a meeting on Moscow.
According to Lavrov, Armenia “understands that” it is necessary to convince the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to meet with Azerbaijani representatives as soon as possible.
"The Armenian side has an understanding of the need to convince the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh to meet as soon as possible with Azerbaijani representatives to agree on the rights arising from the relevant legislation and from international obligations (in this case, Azerbaijan), including numerous conventions on ensuring the rights of national minorities," he said.
The minister noted that during the meeting, the parties were presented with the assessments of the Russian side, taking into account the reports of the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh "on the steps that it is highly desirable to quickly, without delay, take in the interests of providing the population of Karabakh with food, medicine, basic necessities, to ensure uninterrupted electricity and gas supply.
"This is in the interests of ordinary people, Armenians, residents of the region," the Russian Foreign Minister added.
Lavrov also pointed out that Moscow, as a key mediator of the peace process, "is interested in resolving the crisis as soon as possible in full accordance with the trilateral statements that the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia made in 2020, 2021 and 2022."
The Russian Foreign Minister also noted that Moscow welcomes the desire of those countries that want to assist Armenia and Azerbaijan in the search for mutually acceptable solutions, but there should be no artificial imposition of agreements from outside for the sake of beautiful headlines in the media.
