The Armenian Foreign Ministry revealed that the trilateral meeting was due to take place in Moscow on Friday. According to the ministry spokesman, Vahan Hunanian, it was scheduled before large groups of Azerbaijanis blocked on December 12 the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia.
In written comments to the Armenpress news agency, Hunanian said Mirzoyan “postponed” the meeting because his top priority now is to help reopen the Lachin corridor and address the “humanitarian crisis” in Karabakh.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Azerbaijani counterpart discussed the issue in a phone call on Thursday. The Russian Foreign Ministry said they “expressed regret for Yerevan’s decision to refuse to participate in the meeting scheduled for December 23.”
The talks were due to focus on a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan sought by Baku, the ministry added in a statement.
Hunanian said that as well as cancelling the talks Yerevan has presented Baku with “new proposals” regarding the treaty.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reported such proposals during a cabinet meeting held earlier in the day. But he too did not shed light on them.
“We are ready to sign an agreement with that content,” said Pashinian.
Lavrov also raised with Bayramov the road blockade. According to the Russian readout of the call, he “stressed the need for strict observance of the trilateral agreements on ensuring unhindered communications between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia along the Lachin corridor.”
Baku claims that Azerbaijani protesters camped out at a road section on December have not halted traffic through the corridor.