The vigorous diplomatic activity of Andrew Schofer and Brice Roquefeuil, the American and the French Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, has effectively paralyzed the once coherent operation of the three co-chairs, as the two refused to engage with Russia within the organization, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
“We have witnessed shameless attempts by Brussels to appropriate the subject of Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani top-level agreements and the agenda proposed last year by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs,” she lamented in reference to the Brussels meeting between President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, mediated by Charles Michel.
According to Zakharova, “Russia considers the trilateral agreements at the highest level as a basis for the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations.”
Sputnik quotes her as saying that “one way or another, we remain in the pre-existing formats, but we can see that there has hardly been any progress.”
According to her, at the moment Russia is focusing its efforts on the formats that give real results, which are felt by civilians, economic operators, states and the region as a whole. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson also stressed that “there are many dormant formats” that can be activated if necessary.
Zakharova also said that Armenia and Azerbaijan are willing to meet each other halfway on the issue of a peace treaty.
“We see our role as facilitating a rapprochement between the parties. Assisting Yerevan and Baku in the preparation of a peace deal, the Russian party is guided by proposals on the core principles for the establishment of interstate relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. They were worked out in Baku and received a constructive response from Yerevan,” she said.
According to her, contacts on the delimitation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border are expected to take place in Baku by the end of the week.
“There is also an agreement with Baku and Yerevan to hold a regular meeting of the trilateral working group shortly,” Zakharova added.