Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Moscow expects Baku and Yerevan to promptly agree on the venue for the next ministerial meeting within the "3+3" format.
"The next ministerial meeting is to take place either in Baku or Yerevan. We hope our Azerbaijani and Armenian colleagues can swiftly decide the order for organizing the session," she said during a briefing, as reported by RIA Novosti.
According to Zakharova, Russia is ready to support any joint decision made by its partners.
The “3+3” regional consultation format, involving Russia, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, was proposed in late 2020 by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a platform to discuss cooperation in the South Caucasus and the Middle East. Georgia has been repeatedly invited to join the initiative but has not yet participated.
The first meeting, at deputy foreign minister level, was held in Moscow in December 2021. The second, at the ministerial level, took place in Tehran in October 2023. The most recent meeting occurred on October 18, 2024, in Istanbul.
