If Armenia wishes to negotiate with Azerbaijan directly, so be it – Sergey Lavrov

If the Armenian authorities wish to engage in direct talks with Azerbaijan to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis without Russia’s participation, so be it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

“Similarly, we are now worried that the trilateral agreements concluded at several summits by Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in 2020-2022 have stalled. I mentioned the resumption of transport communication, and I also mentioned the trilateral commission that was in charge of this, but now it practically does not meet anymore. Yerevan believes that it should be done directly with Azerbaijan. If they manage that, so be it,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.

Lavrov noted that Russia should consult the process of the state border delimitation between the participants, but this is not happening. “No, they do not want it, and at the same time they constantly seek to attract the West, the US, the EU, and Paris to these processes. It is their choice, but they should negotiate, first of all, with Azerbaijani neighbors. There is no other way,” he added.