The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan considered the statements of French President Emmanuel Macron regarding the processes in the South Caucasus and the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations as biased and unacceptable.

In the October 12 interview, Macron expressed sincere support for Armenia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan absolutely rejects the French President’s statements regarding Azerbaijan, considering them groundless.

“Unfortunately, the French president is still silent about the fact that Armenia has not fulfilled the points of the tripartite declaration, creating a mine threat in the region,” the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan stated.

The Foreign Ministry notes that Azerbaijan, taking into account the impossibility of the Minsk Group’s activities at the moment, has not given up on France’s mediation regarding the settlement of relations between Baku and Yerevan, on the initiative of Macron, meetings were held in this direction on February 4, 2022, and October 6, 2022, however, the French president’s statements against Azerbaijan cast serious doubt on his neutrality and impartiality as a mediator.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that with Azerbaijan’s attempts to ensure peace, stability, and development in the region, to regulate relations with Armenia based on the principles of international law, France’s unilateral position and groundless accusations against Baku force Azerbaijan to once again review France’s mediation efforts.

It should be noted that Macron accused Russia of deliberately provoking the latest clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan as part of efforts to destabilize the Caucasus region.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, responded to Macron’s statement and noted: “Moscow considers absolutely unacceptable Macron’s statements that Russia is using the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan to destabilize the Caucasus. Paris’s attempts to drive a wedge in Moscow’s relations with Yerevan and Baku are doomed to failure and will lead to the devaluation of France’s prestige in the region,” Zakharova noted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also referred to Macron’s statement and noted that he was surprised to read French President Emmanuel Macron’s statements about the role of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Putin called them incorrect and unacceptable.