On October 12, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, in Astana.
The interlocutors touched on several issues of regional security and stability. Thoughts were exchanged on the work on developing the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Ararat Mirzoyan and Sergey Lavrov reaffirmed the need to implement the agreements reached with the tripartite statements of November 9, 2020, January 11, and November 26, 2021. In this context, the importance of the commissions on border demarcation and border security issues, as well as the work carried out in the direction of unblocking economic connections and transport infrastructures in the region, was emphasized.
The need for the immediate withdrawal of the Azerbaijani armed forces that invaded the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia as a result of the recent aggression of Azerbaijan and the need to maintain the ceasefire regime was particularly emphasized, and the problems related to the implementation of international mechanisms for monitoring and controlling the border situation were addressed. Minister Mirzoyan stressed that the Armenian side expects Russia's absolute position and support of Russia as a strategic ally in withdrawing the Azerbaijani armed forces from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.
Ararat Mirzoyan emphasized the imperative of repatriation of Armenian prisoners of war and other detained persons as soon as possible in the context of the settlement of humanitarian issues. The Armenian side emphasized the accountability of the perpetrators and organizers of extrajudicial killings, torture, and other war crimes committed by Azerbaijan against Armenian prisoners of war.
The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Russia also discussed the broad agenda of the allied relations between the two countries.