Speaking at MGIMO University, Sergey Lavrov commented on the agreements signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington, stressing that their practical implementation remains to be seen.
“We need to see how it will work, because all the enthusiastic reactions that followed the Washington meeting in the first few days were later replaced with pessimistic assessments once the text was published. As it turns out, far from everything has been agreed upon,” Lavrov said, RIA Novosti reports.
He added that the U.S.-brokered arrangement was built on earlier agreements reached between Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan from 2020–2022.
“It was Russia, through President Putin, that played the decisive role when the so-called Second Karabakh War began. The president secured an agreement signed by Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Aliyev in November 2020. Afterwards, a whole series of trilateral summits was held, during which agreements were reached on unblocking economic ties and reopening transport routes,” Lavrov underlined.
At the Washington meeting in early August, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev adopted a declaration. In its presence, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan initialed the text of a peace and interstate relations agreement. Yerevan also agreed to cooperate with Washington and third parties in creating the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” linking Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenian territory.
