Moscow ‘Refrains’ from Addressing Aliyev’s War Threats

Armenia’s strategic ally, Russia, has refrained from addressing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s most recent threat of war against Armenia, when he said earlier this week that his country will force the opening of the so-called “Zangezur Corridor.”

“Moscow’s principled position is that we proceed from the need to refrain from making statements and taking actions that may handicap the implementation of the trilateral agreements at the highest level and, of course, statements and actions that may lead to escalation of the conflict,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a press briefing on Wednesday.

“I believe it would be better to stick to the issue, not political statements,” added Zakharova.

“As a mediator, Russia is doing everything it can to stabilize the situation…You know our principled approaches…We are doing everything we can to make sure the agreements are implemented, and the situation…it can never be guaranteed since we are dealing with an old conflict, but, either way, we are doing everything we can to make sure the situation in the region doesn’t worsen,” she added.

“We consider the continuation of constant contacts between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan important. We hope the heads of both states reaffirm their commitment to implementing all the trilateral agreements following the meeting scheduled to take place on Dec. 15 in Brussels. We hope the support to the efforts of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group is reaffirmed…In this stage, the activities of the Co-Chairs are focused on the solutions to the priority humanitarian issues,” Zakharova explained.

Zakharova also didn’t address the killing last week of an Artsakh resident by Azerbaijani forces. Seyran Sargsyan, 65, had wandered into territory currently under control of Azerbaijan near the Tchartar village in Artsakh Martuni district while shepherding his cattle. He was caught by Azerbaijani forces who beat and killed him.