Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Friday met with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, in New Delhi, India on the margins of a geopolitical conference being held there known as the Raisina Dialogue.
The continued Azerbaijani blockade of Artsakh was a topic of conversation with both the Russian and European leaders.
“The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Russia discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from the blockade of the Lachin corridor and disruption of electricity supply by Azerbaijan. The need for the implementation of reached agreements and unblocking of the Lachin corridor in strong adherence to the commitments undertaken under the November 9, 2020 Trilateral Statement was stressed,” a statement issued by Armenia’s foreign ministry said.
The two also “touched upon issues of the normalization process of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, delimitation and border security, unblocking of all economic and transport ties as well as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. During the meeting the Foreign Ministers also touched upon other topics of mutual interest,” according to the statement.
“An exchange of ideas around regional issues took place. The urgency to intensify efforts in all directions of the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations based the November 9, 2020, January 11 and November, 26 2021 and October 31, 2022 agreements between the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan was stressed,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement about the meeting.
During his meeting with Borrell, Mirzoyan said the Lachin Corridor must be opened immediately and briefed the European official about the humanitarian crisis that has resulted from Azerbaijan’s blockade of Artsakh.
Mirzoyan also called for the “hands-on” involvement by the international community to compel Azerbaijan to comply with the ruling by the International Court of Justice, which ordered Azerbaijan to take all steps to ensure “unimpeded movement” along the Lachin Corridor.
Mirzoyan and Borrell also “exchanged ideas around the Armenia-EU partnership agenda,” according to a statement issued by Armenia’s foreign ministry. “Both sides attached importance to the deployment of the EU civilian monitoring mission in Armenia which was officially launched on February 20.”
