As for the status of Karabakh, this issue was not mentioned in the November 9 agreements; this was done knowingly. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2020.
"The area where the Russian peacekeepers are stationed [in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh)] is the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent; this is the basis of our contacts with Yerevan and Baku. Now the nuances, details are being worked out in connection with the organization of transport communication, the supply of the responsibility zone of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, the provision of humanitarian assistance to the people who returned there; 50,000 Armenians have already returned.
And, of course, we want international organizations to have the opportunity to work there (…). We are now coordinating with Baku and Yerevan on the format of their mission. … There are issues there related to the status dispute; this is why the topic of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is such a controversial topic, and a decision was made by the leaders to bypass the issue, leave it for later. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs should also deal with it. Now they have renewed contacts with the parties and are going to visit the region again.
However, the status issues will be resolved more easily and quickly than the assurances of Yerevan and Baku that the important thing is the normalization of daily life of all communities—ethnic and religious—, and that peaceful good-neighborly coexistence must be restored," Lavrov added.
