Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today received Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the delegation he heads.
Welcoming the guests, Nikol Pashinyan stated:
«Dear Sergey Viktorovich,
Dear colleagues,
I am glad for the opportunity to meet with you and to welcome you in the government of Armenia.
The relations between our countries are of an allied nature and are built on the principle of strategic partnership and the fraternal relations of our peoples. I am glad to note that in recent months our relations have been further strengthened, once again passing the test of endurance.
At a difficult time, the Russian Federation extended us a helping hand and helped resolve the problems that had arisen as a result of the pandemic and the aggression against Karabakh. Thanks to the efforts of the Russian Federation, it was possible to stop the hostilities and achieve a significant reduction in the tension of the situation in our region. Today, the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh is a firm guarantee of Nagorno-Karabakh’s security.
I particularly wish to emphasise the role of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, in achieving peace in the region, as well as his efforts towards creating conditions for the viability of Nagorno-Karabakh.
In this regard, I would like to assure that Armenia will henceforth continue to take all measures aimed at implementing the commitments reached by the trilateral statements of 9 November 2020 and 11 January 2021.
We are also ready to exert maximum efforts to ensure constructive dialogue between the parties, in a trilateral format.
However, I must note that Azerbaijan’s actions do not at all contribute to the progress of the trilateral dialogue. Baku’s actions, which manipulate the issue of the return of prisoners of war, carry out anti-Armenian vakhkhaniya, express territorial claims against Armenia, and now have begun to destroy the cultural and religious heritage of the Armenian people, on the contrary, are aimed at increasing the tension of the situation in the region and undermining the commitments.
In this context, I would like to note with satisfaction the actions of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, whose latest statement is, in essence, a response to Azerbaijan’s destructive position.
The position expressed in the co-chairs’ statement of 13 April is in line with our position regarding the main issues at hand. In this regard, I wish to emphasise our position that it is necessary to restore the peace process in order to reach a final settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, on the basis of the principles proposed by the co-chairs.
Dear Sergey Viktorovich,
once again I welcome you and am confident that today we will have constructive and effective negotiations»:
