Russia supports holding the fourth ministerial session of the “3+3” regional consultative platform by the end of the year, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin said during a meeting with students at the Russian-Armenian University.
“We are in contact with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, as the question of sequencing remains. Both sides are ready to host such a meeting in their respective countries. The order simply needs to be agreed upon. Naturally, we are fully supporting this,” the diplomat stated, as reported by Sputnik Armenia.
Kopyrkin noted that all member states of the platform, including Turkey and Iran, consider the format effective and relevant. According to him, the mechanism allows regional countries themselves to take the lead in resolving issues.
“This is our principled position. Of course, participation from third countries can be valuable, but it must be based on realities and the interests of regional states,” he added.
The ambassador also remarked that many topics discussed in the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization process and in Armenian-American dialogue directly relate to the interests of neighboring countries. Therefore, the “3+3” format has become a natural and useful platform for multilateral dialogue, he said.
Kopyrkin emphasized that the platform remains active in practice, with three ministerial meetings held so far.
Regarding Georgia’s role, he recalled that Tbilisi had initially shown interest and even took part in one of the early meetings but later withdrew from the process. Nonetheless, all member states agree that the door remains open for Georgia’s participation.
It was previously reported that upcoming meetings are planned to be held in Yerevan and Baku, with the sequence to be determined between the parties.
The previous “3+3” meeting took place in October 2024 in Istanbul, with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in attendance.
