RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan had an interview with Azatutyun. This is reported by the RA MFA.

“Question: During the press conference with the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed his surprise that they learned about the non-participation of the Armenian Foreign Minister in the tripartite meeting scheduled for December 23 from the press release of the Armenian side, and not through diplomatic channels. How would you interpret that?

Answer: I am also surprised by the surprise of my esteemed colleague Sergey Lavrov. Taking into account the humanitarian crisis caused by Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor, the request of the Armenian side to postpone the meeting between me and the Foreign Ministers of Russia and Azerbaijan scheduled in Moscow was forwarded by the RA MFA and the RA Embassy in Russia to both the representatives of the central apparatus of the RF MFA and to the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Armenia. Otherwise, it is inexplicable how the Russian MFA could announce the non-departure of the Armenian side to Moscow much sooner than the RA MFA would have announced it and its reasons.

Question: In Minister Lavrov’s speech, there was also a conviction about the continuation of incidents if one of the parties refuses to participate in pre-agreed negotiations every time. In your opinion, how should this be perceived?

Answer: The Armenian side has clearly pointed out the reason and necessity of postponing the meeting. Agree, it is difficult to have constructive and productive meetings in the face of constant threats and new manifestations of the use of force.

As for the belief about the further continuation of these manifestations, I think that in 2020 the tripartite declaration of November 9 and the Russian peacekeeping troops in Nagorno-Karabakh are meant to exclude such beliefs.

Question: During the press conference with Sergey Lavrov, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Bayramov said that in November 2020, Armenia promised to “liberate” 8 villages, but did not fulfill this agreement. How would you interpret that?

Answer: As we have stated many times, the Armenian side did not undertake such a commitment either with the tripartite statement of November 9 or in any other way. Nothing other than written, signed, and published agreements do not exist.

We think that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, talking about such fictitious agreements, is trying to justify his country’s continuous and gross violations of the provisions of the tripartite declaration on November 9.

At the same time, I consider it necessary to remind that Armenia has repeatedly proposed the withdrawal of troops, and the deployment of the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan along the administrative border between the Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs.