The information on another meeting of the group in Moscow was disseminated by the press service of the Russian government late on August 17.
According to the report, during their meeting Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigoryan of Armenia, Shahin Mustafayev of Azerbaijan, and Alexey Overchuk of Russia considered “prospects of restoring transport links in the South Caucasus region and discussed the course of further work carried out within the framework of the statement of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia from January 11, 2021.”
The trilateral group held no meetings since May when Armenia accused Azerbaijan of violating its borders by advancing several kilometers deep inside its sovereign territory in the Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces.
Baku insisted that its troops took up new positions on the Azerbaijani side of the frontier and called for the delimitation and demarcation of the border between the two former Soviet republics.
Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Grigorian stated then that “such a situation does not create a favorable atmosphere for the continuation of negotiations.”
Despite repeated demands by Yerevan, Azerbaijan has refused to withdraw its troops. Border areas in Syunik, Gegharkunik as well the Yeraskh section of Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan’s western exclave of Nakhijevan have seen deadly skirmishes between the two countries’ militaries in recent days and weeks.
Armenia says at least five of its soldiers were killed and at least six were wounded in skirmishes at different sections of the border since late July. Azerbaijan has confirmed at least one soldier’s death, saying that two Azeri soldiers were wounded during the same period.
Despite the simmering tensions, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said during last week’s government session that negotiations as part of the trilateral group should be resumed.
“I think that we should resume the work in the trilateral format of deputy prime ministers as soon as possible, be more active and show more initiative in terms of realizing new transport and economic opportunities in the region,” the Armenian leader said.
Long-running tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region turned into a large-scale war last year in which nearly 7,000 people were killed in six weeks of fighting that ended in a Moscow-brokered cease-fire deal.
Under the accord, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration.
The agreement also resulted in the deployment of around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor linking the Armenian-populated region with Armenia.