Russian Foreign Ministry: Pashinyan's refusal from Karabakh gives clarity to Baku-Yerevan dialogue

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova welcomed Yerevan's decision to recognize the Karabakh economic region as the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan and thereby renounce claims to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Maria Zakharova explained that the specification of Yerevan's position allows for more effective Armenia-Azerbaijan settlement talks, which is extremely important for Russia. She stressed that the clarity of Nikol Pashinyan's position will contribute to the fulfillment of the obligations of the parties.

The diplomat recalled that Nikol Pashinyan’s decision is a natural development of the agreements between him and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, reached on October 7, 2022 in Prague, when they adopted a joint statement on the mutual recognition of territories based on the Almaty Declaration of 1991, according to which the administrative borders between the former republics of the USSR are recognized as national borders.

"As we have said many times, the Prague agreement has given a qualitatively new framework to the negotiation process between Baku and Yerevan," Maria Zakharova said.

She added that thanks to the talks between the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan on May 19 held in Moscow, the parties managed to achieve significant progress in working out the text of the peace treaty, improve understanding between Baku and Yerevan and bring their approaches closer.