They called for a “consistent implementation” of Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Moscow during and after the 2020 war in Karabakh. They also agreed to speed up the planned creation of a commission on demarcating Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan with Russian assistance.
“The parties agreed to intensify trilateral cooperation between Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan in order to foster the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and in the region as a whole,” Putin and Pashinian added in a joint declaration issued after their talks.
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed to start drafting an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty and to set up the commission on the border demarcation during their April 6 talks in Brussels hosted by European Council President Charles Michel. The latter reaffirmed the European Union’s readiness to facilitate the opening of transport links between the two South Caucasus states.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted on April 8 that Putin had already laid the groundwork for these agreements during his frequent contacts with the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders. Lavrov accused the EU of seeking to sideline Moscow and use the Karabakh conflict in the standoff over Ukraine.
A senior EU diplomat insisted shortly before Lavrov’s comments that the EU and Russian efforts are “not mutually incompatible.”
In their joint statement, Putin and Pashinian stressed the importance of “revitalizing” the work of a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani intergovernmental body dealing with practical modalities of reopening regional transport links. The working group has not met since December.
The statement made no explicit mention of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. Lavrov said that Moscow is ready to help Yerevan and Baku “create conditions” for concluding such an accord.
In his opening remarks at the talks held in his Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, Putin noted that “many problems remain” in the Karabakh conflict zone. He did not go into details.
The two leaders did not address the press in person after the talks.