Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan responded to the statement made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday in Baku.
Question: The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that Armenia is sabotaging the agreement to unblock communications through the Syunik region. How will you comment?
Answer: The untrue, clearly biased, often disrespectful comments of various officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry regarding Armenia, unfortunately, are not new for a long time, and if you have noticed, it has been a long time since we even addressed them.
However, yesterday's statement by the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry not only causes regret but also calls into question the Russian Federation's constructive involvement in regulating relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Having once undertaken a mediating mission in 2020, The Foreign Minister of the state that signed the statement of November 9 and deployed a peacekeeping force in the region based on it cannot fail to see that there is not a single critical point of that statement that is not irrevocably violated, despite Russia's signature under it and Russia's participation and responsibility in the processes provided for by it. The Russian Foreign Minister is well aware that apart from public documents, Armenia is not a part of any other agreement. Therefore, he cannot sabotage them.
We also consider it necessary to emphasize that the "Crossroads of Peace" project presented by the Government of the Republic of Armenia is already widely recognized among the international community; it was also given several times to the representatives of the Russian Federation. We reaffirm that opening regional communications within its framework is possible now. The "Crossroads of Peace" project received a positive response from several international partners, and we call on the partners of the Russian Foreign Ministry not to sabotage it or the efforts to achieve peace in the South Caucasus with biased statements.
The government of the Republic of Armenia has repeatedly reaffirmed and is still reiterating its commitment to the peace agenda and will do its part to implement that agenda successfully.