Pashinyan, Putin Discuss Karabakh Issue and Implementation of Trilateral Agreements

YEREVAN — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Tuesday after Azerbaijan reportedly demanded the closure of Lachin corridor connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Kremlin said Putin and Pashinyan discussed “some practical aspects of implementing the trilateral agreements” reached by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan during and after the 2020 war in Karabakh. It did not go into details. Pashinyan’s office released an identical statement on the call.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan also held a phone call on Tuesday. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, they discussed “the security situation in the region.”

It said the ministers reviewed the course of the implementation of trilateral statements made the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021 and confirmed their commitment to their comprehensive and effective implementation, particularly, the commitment to unblock transport and economic ties in the South Caucasus and delimit the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Bilaterally, the ministers discussed prospects for further strengthening of Russian-Armenian ties, including the implementation of agreements reached during the official visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Russia on April 19-20 and on the margins of the CSTO summit on May 16.

The press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported that during the phone conversation the sides exchanged also views on the humanitarian problems created as a result of the 44-day war in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.

In this context, the release and return of Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees was mutually stressed, it said.