Financial Times: Armenia and Azerbaijan Leaders to Meet for Peace Talks in Brussels

LONDON — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will reportedly meet in Brussels on Sunday following marathon talks held by their foreign ministers in the United States.

Citing three unnamed “officials with knowledge of the preparations,” the Financial Times reported on Monday that the meeting will be hosted by Charles Michel, the head of the European Union’s top decision-making body next Sunday. The report was not immediately confirmed or refuted by the EU, Armenia or Azerbaijan.

The Brussels meeting is an “important sign of progress”, one of the three officials said on condition of anonymity as it is not yet public, adding that the EU and US efforts were “mutually reinforcing” and “complementary two-track processes”. There are also plans for the three leaders to hold another meeting on June 1 with German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Moldova, two of the officials said.

“Washington and Brussels are acting in tandem,” agreed Tigran Grigoryan, an Armenian political analyst. “That is, we are witnessing teamwork here.”

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov met outside Washington for four consecutive days last week. The U.S.-mediated talks focused on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty primarily sought by Baku.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the two ministers made “very tangible progress” and that a “final agreement is within reach.”

“We’re determined to continue to help our friends achieve it,” Blinken said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan left for Moscow on Monday by the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to attend events dedicated to the victory in the Great Patriotic War to be held on May 9.

Pashinyan and Putin are expected to hold one-on-one meeting in Moscow.