A soldier at an Armenian position on the borderThe Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that Moscow takes its bilateral and multilateral obligations seriously, presumably in response to Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan, who said that the Armenian authorities expect Russia to step up and provide Armenia with military and diplomatic assistance.
The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Wednesday emphasize Moscow’s commitments when asked about the Armenia-Russia strategic agreement signed in 1997.
“Russia takes its bilateral and multilateral obligations seriously. Relevant bilateral consultations are held. As for the CSTO, according to our information, they are closely monitoring the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border,” Zakharova added referring to Azerbaijan’s attack of Armenia’s border on Tuesday.
Grigoryan, Armenia’s National Security chief, also mentioned the 1997 agreement telling the Russian Kommersant newspaper that Yerevan’s expectations from Moscow stemmed from the same treaty.
“This [Azerbaijan’s attack on Tuesday] is an act of aggression. In 1997 Armenia and Russia agreed to help one another in such cases. This is exactly why we applied to Russia,” he said.
“We are in favor of a diplomatic solution to the matter. But if not possible to resolve the matter through diplomacy, then the issue must be resolved militarily,” added Grigoryan.
“But if a solution isn’t found we will start considering other options,” Grigoryan told Kommersant.
Zakharova told the press that through Moscow’s mediation efforts, a ceasefire was established on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.
“We call on both sides to show restraint, not to allow new incidents, to resolve all disputes exclusively through political-diplomatic means,” Zakharova said.
“Recent events confirm the need for an immediate start of the demarcation and subsequent delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, as well as the commencement of the work of the relevant commission on the basis of previously submitted Russian proposals,” added Zakharova. She also called on the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to urgently organize a visit to the region.
