Armenia refuses to negotiate peace treaty with Azerbaijan in Moscow

YEREVAN, December 8. /ARKA/. Armenia refuses to negotiate a peace deal with Azerbaijan in Moscow, said today Sargis Khandanyan, MP from the ruling Civil Contract party and head of the parliamentary standing committee on foreign relations.

Speaking to reporters, he said it is more reasonable to negotiate the peace deal with Baku in Washington and Brussels,

Khandanyan said also that the date of a meting between Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, reportedly to be held in Washington, D.C, is not specified yet. He added that Armenia is in favor of the negotiations at the level of foreign ministers.

‘We hope that our US partners will put enough efforts and pressure to have the talks continue in Washington," Khandanyan said.

As for the statements from Russia that Armenia does not accept its invitation to negotiate the peace deal in Moscow, Khandanyan said the formats of the talks between the foreign ministers in Washington and the leaders of the countries in Brussels have been established and it would be more logical to continue the talks within these formats so as not to start all over again.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James O’Brien visited Baku on December 7, where he was said to discuss with President Aliyev U.S. efforts to kick-start talks on the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.

In a related development, a U.S. special envoy for the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks, Louis Bono, met with Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in Yerevan on Thursday. -0-