Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan answered Interfax’s questions, which are presented below.

Question: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan issued a statement that the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia to Artsakh is a violation of the commitments undertaken in the 9 November statement. What are the obligations?

Answer: These allegations are completely baseless. The 9 November statement does not impose any restrictions on relations between Armenia and Artsakh at different levels.

The 9 November trilateral statement aimed at establishing a ceasefire and deploying Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh does not indicate any agreement on the status of Artsakh. And from that point of view, all the claims that changes have taken place in the status of Artsakh do not correspond to reality.

The status of Artsakh should be determined as a result of a peace process, based on the principles proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the right of peoples to self-determination.

Question: How does the Armenian side assess the implementation of the 9 November trilateral statement by Azerbaijan?

Answer: As a result of the 9 November statement, large-scale hostilities were stopped and Russian peacekeepers were deployed in Artsakh. At the same time, the Azerbaijani side has violated and continues to violate a number of key provisions of the trilateral statement.

Thus, according to the first point of the trilateral statement, the parties must stop their positions as of 10 November and end the hostilities. Meanwhile, more than a month after the ceasefire was established, the Azerbaijani side carried out military operations in the direction of Hin Tagher and-Khtsaberd settlements in the Hadrut region of Artsakh, causing human losses and capturing Armenian servicemen on the spot. The RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to that gross violation of the statement in its 13 December statement.

To date, the Azerbaijani side has not fully complied with Article 8 of the trilateral statement, according to which prisoners of war, hostages and other detainees should be exchanged. As a result, Armenian prisoners of war and hostages are not released. Moreover, the Azerbaijani side is prosecuting Armenian prisoners of war, presenting them as terrorists at the highest level, trying to prevent the full implementation of the 9 November trilateral statement.

The cessation of violations of the 9 November statement by Azerbaijan is necessary for the full implementation of the trilateral statement.