Zakharova accuses West of undermining Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization
YEREVAN, February 17. /ARKA/. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused the West, led by the United States, of working to undermine the efforts aimed at assisting Armenia and Azerbaijani to normalize their relations.
"If there is anyone that has undermined the efforts for the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization, it is the Western countries, led by the United States,' she said at a press briefing.
She said the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by USA, France and Russia, was sent to the dustbin of history after the American and French co-chairs stopped interaction with their Russian colleague under the far-fetched pretext in February 2022 (after Russia's invasion of Ukraine).
The reality is this," Zakharova said to a request to comment on State Department Deputy Press Secretary Vedant Patel's statement that the peace process in the South Caucasus was the focus of the US Secretary of State.
"We are focused on assisting Baku and Yerevan within trilateral formats, relying on a set of relevant agreements at the highest level, as we have repeatedly said. As for the U.S. mediation, we did not see it had any added value," Zakharova said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged last month that EU’s civilian mission, to be deployed in Armenia without Azerbaijan’s consent could produce opposite results and create additional problems instead of boosting confidence. He also accused the EU of seeking to “push back Russia's mediation efforts at any cost.”
"We continue providing assistance to our partners. Recently, useful contacts and visits took place - special representative of Russian FM Lavrov on normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations Igor Khovayev visited Yerevan and Baku," Zakharova said today.
According to her, both Armenian and Azerbaijani sides confirmed their interest in Russia's mediation. She said Russia was ready to organize another meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow. -0-
