Moscow welcomes the readiness of Baku and Yerevan to start preparing a peace agreement and is ready to support the negotiation process, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, RIA Novosti reported,.
“We welcome the readiness of Baku and Yerevan to start preparing a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia and reaffirm our intention to fully support the negotiation process,” Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.
She added that it is too early to talk about the terms of signing the peace agreement.
Earlier, Baku started discussions on signing a peace agreement with Yerevan and presented a document on 5 principles.
These include:
- Mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of state borders and political independence.
- Mutual confirmation of the absence of territorial claims of States against each other and non-submission of such claims in the future.
- Refrain from using threats or force against each other in interstate relations, threatening each other’s political independence and territorial integrity, as well as other actions incompatible with the purposes of the UN Charter.
- Delimitation and demarcation of the state border, establishment of diplomatic relations.
- Opening of transport and other communications, establishment of other relevant communications and cooperation in other areas of mutual interest.
It should be reminded that on 27 September, the Azerbaijani side launched hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh, occupying most of it, including the city of Shushi.
On 9 November, Russian President Vladimir Putin, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a joint statement on the cessation of hostilities that started on 27 September.
The trilateral statement states in particular that Kelbajar will be returned to Azerbaijan by 15 November (later that period was extended by 10 days), Aghdam region by 20 November, and Lachin region by 1 December, leaving a corridor of 5 km wide, which will ensure Armenia’s connection, but will not touch Shushi.
In addition, along with the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor, Russian peacekeeping forces of 1960 troops with firearms, 90 armored vehicles and 380 vehicles and special equipment are deployed. The peacekeepers remain for five years with the possibility of automatic extension, unless the parties announce the termination of this provision six months before the expiration of the next five years.
It is also mentioned that internally displaced persons and refugees are returning to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, exchanging prisoners of war and exchanging other detainees, and unblocking all economic and transport ties in the region is carried out.
