Russian Foreign Ministry: France discredits itself in Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on French President Emmanuel Macron's statement that he promised to put more pressure on President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, regarding the normalization of relations between Azerbaijn and Armenia.

The spokesperson said that the process is there, but the result is not.; not only in the case of France's mediation in the Karabakh settlement, but also in many other cases that Macron has undertaken many times.

She noted that for a long time Moscow has no illusions about Paris's ability to make a positive contribution to the post-war settlement.

"Sabotaging and, in fact, disrupting the work of the OSCE Minsk Group, including with the efforts of Paris in 2022, the adoption of a resolution by the French National Assembly and the Senate last fall, whereby the so-called Azerbaijan's aggression was condemned, as they wrote, and it was demanded to impose sanctions against the country and its officials, Paris's deployment of a civilian mission to Armenia with a dubious mandate and without taking into account the opinion of Azerbaijan. All these are clear examples of the French agenda in this regional conflict, which requires knowledge, professional actions," Maria Zakharova said.

The diplomat stressed that the actions, demonstrative steps are not aimed at helping the parties, but at pushing Russia out of the settlement process, and at the realization of their own political and sometimes just pre-election goals.

"Not only did they not have a positive result in the negotiation process, but, on the contrary, they discredited the role of France as a mediator in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations," the spokesperson said.