17:52,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. The meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich has ended.
Later tonight, the Armenian Prime Minister will also participate in a panel discussion alongside Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and the Secretary General of the OSCE Helga Schmid at the Munich Security Conference.
18:41,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting with the former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen within the framework of the Munich Security Conference.
PM Pashinyan and Rasmussen discussed the developments taking place in the South Caucasus region and attached importance to the implementation of consistent steps in the direction of strengthening stability and peace, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a read-out.
18:57,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev discussed the course of the work around the peace treaty draft during trilateral talks mediated by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken within the framework of the Munich Security Conference.
“The trilateral meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev took place within the framework of the Munich Security Conference. The course of the works around a peace treaty draft between Armenia and Azerbaijan was discussed at the meeting, as well as the unblocking of regional transport infrastructures and delimitation between the two countries in accordance with the agreement reached in Prague. Prime Minister Pashinyan reiterated Armenia’s commitment to achieve the signing of a peace treaty that would truly guarantee lasting peace and stability in the region. At the same time, Nikol Pashinyan stressed the fact of the illegal blockade of Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan and the resulting humanitarian, environmental and energy crisis in Nagorno Karabakh. The continuity of the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan was highlighted,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a read-out.
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met for the first time since October at trilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Munich Security Conference. Works are underway to reach an agreement on monitoring mechanisms designed to prevent war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Tensions have escalated between the two South Caucasus nations over a two-month blockade of the Lachin corridor, the only land route giving Armenia direct access to the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region – the bone of contention between the two states since 1917.
Blinken said he welcomed the meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. The politicians are attending the three-day Munich Security Conference.
“The United States is committed to doing anything we can to support these efforts, whether it’s directly with our friends or whether it’s in a trilateral format such as this or with other international partners, but I’m very grateful for the presence of both the President and the Prime Minister today and look forward to a good conversation,” Blinken said.
As per the statement of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan: “A project of a comprehensive agreement has been handed to Azerbaijan. The document has to be acceptable to Azerbaijan… its signing must bring about a lasting peace”.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians, and it broke away from Baku in a first war in the early 1990s. Azeri civilians identifying themselves as environmental activists have been facing off since Dec. 12 with Russian peacekeepers on the Lachin corridor. Saturday’s meeting was the two leaders’ first face-to-face encounter since late October, when Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted talks in the Black Sea city of Sochi. A Dec. 7 meeting in Brussels was scrapped.
At the beginning of february Azerbaijan opened a new front against Armenia — but this one does not include warfare – it involves legal briefs and claims of environmental damage. Azerbaijan is alleging that Armenia despoiled the environment of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan that has been warred over for 30 years; in 2020, a surprise offensive by Azerbaijan recaptured large chunks of the region which came out to be in tragic ecological state. According to Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov, over 500 species in Nagorno-Karabakh are now at risk, including leopards, brown bears, gray wolves and eagles.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to seize a “historic opportunity” to end their decades-long dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The two countries have fought two wars for control of Azerbaijan’s Armenian-populated enclave that have claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Internationally mediated peace talks between the ex-Soviet republics have since produced little, if any, result.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to seize a “historic opportunity” to end their decades-long dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The two countries have fought two wars for control of Azerbaijan’s Armenian-populated enclave that have claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Internationally mediated peace talks between the ex-Soviet republics have since produced little, if any, result.
Since mid-December, a group of self-styled Azerbaijani environmental activists has barred the only road linking Karabakh to Armenia to protest what they say is illegal mining.
In a statement after the meeting in Munich, Pashinyan’s office confirmed that the draft peace treaty had been discussed.
“Pashinyan reaffirmed the determination of the Armenian side to achieve a treaty that will truly guarantee long-term peace and stability in the region,” his office said.
However, he had also denounced “Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian, environmental and energy crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh”, the statement said.
Aliyev told journalists after the meeting that it had taken place “in a constructive manner”, and he was “studying” the Armenian proposals, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
“At first sight, there is progress regarding Armenia’s position, but it is not enough,” he said.
The History Museum of Armenia will launch a temporary exhibition entitled “Karabakh Movement-35” next week.
The opening of the exhibition will take place under the front arcade of the History Museum on February 21, at 3pm.
Photographs and documents from both the museum’s collection and the archives of individual researchers will be presented. The purpose of the exhibition is to present the history of the Karabakh movement from a distance of 35 years, organizers said.
On the same day, after the opening of the exhibition “Karabakh Movement-35,” the “Treasures of Artsakh: A Virtual Exhibition from 15 Armenian Museums” initiated by the History Museum of Armenia and the Armenian Museum of America will be launched.
12:14,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin promoted Lieutenant-general Rustam Muradov – the Commander of Eastern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces – to Colonel-general, the Kremlin reported.
Colonel-general Muradov was the Commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno Karabakh from 2020 to 2021.
EU monitors in Armenia in November, 2022
Yerevan on Tuesday responded to a stern warning to Armenia’s leadership from a close ally of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who said on Monday that European bodies must not be involved in efforts to settle the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Singling out the European Parliament and the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Russia’s State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin claimed that they can only fan regional tensions. Armenia and Azerbaijan should stick to their agreements brokered by Russia during and after their 2020 war, he told Azerbaijani parliament speaker Sahiba Gafarova during talks held in Moscow.
“And those who make statements in the direction of European institutions may simply lose the country,” warned Volodin.
He said that the European Parliament, the PACE and other Western bodies have never settled any conflict and have caused instead the breakup of Yugoslavia and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“Therefore, while wishing to involve the European Parliament and the PACE, they should think ten times and weigh up how that could end, using the example of Ukraine, Yugoslavia and other countries,” Volodin went on. “Anyone who wants peace, who wants to resolve the situation, must not only stay away from these quasi-parliaments — both the PACE and the European Parliament — but clearly understand that their involvement will aggravate the situation, create more and more problems. And if they do that, they must be held accountable for the consequences.”
Volodin and Gafarova on Monday signed a cooperation agreement, which was hailed by the two as the first such agreement between the legislatures of the two countries.
”Relations between our countries are developing dynamically. I must say a word of gratitude to our presidents, who ensure this dynamics, lay a strong foundation for the development of relations,” Volodin said, adding that the agreement will “usher a new level of cooperation between the State Duma and the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan.”
Volodin’s warning was the latest salvo by official Moscow, which has accused the European Union, and the West in general, of attempting to hijack the peace process in the Caucasus from Russia. The EU has announced that it will deploy a 100-person civilian mission to Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan for a two-year period.
Armenia’s National Security Chief Armen Grigoryan claimed on Tuesday that the West has not imposed anything Armenia, in response to Volodin’s criticism of the EU mission.
“No one can impose anything on us,” Grigoryan told reporters. “In this context, the West hasn’t imposed anything on us. The deployment of that [the EU] mission was Armenia’s decision.”
“In May and November of 2021 an attack against the sovereign territory of Armenia took place, a large-scale attack also took place in September of last year. And given our experience that the existing security guarantees are not working, Armenia invited an EU civilian mission with the purpose of creating some security guarantees,” Grigoryan added.
“Naturally we are regularly speaking with our Russian partners on all existing issues, and we are presenting Armenia’s approaches, explaining why we have taken made these steps,” Grigoryan said.
Both the European Parliament and the PACE discussed at recent plenary sessions Azerbaijan’s continuing blockade of the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
The European Union legislature urged Azerbaijan to “immediately reopen” the Lachin corridor in a resolution approved on January 19 and hailed by Armenian officials. The resolution also condemned the “inaction” of Russian peacekeeping forces in Karabakh and called for their “replacement with OSCE international peacekeepers.”
Late last week, the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs released a report accusing Russia of conducting “disinformation campaigns” against the West in Armenia. It also demanded the immediate withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenian territory seized during deadly border clashes last September.
Russian-Armenian relations have soured lately also because of the Azerbaijani road blockade. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly accused Russian peacekeepers of doing little to unblock the vital road. Moscow has rejected the accusations.
10:10,
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Azerbaijan must de-escalate tension and proceed on a path towards a comprehensive and lasting peace, United States State Department spokesperson Ned Price said at a press briefing.
“Well, I will leave it to those two governments to speak to their engagement. Our message to both Armenia and Azerbaijan, to the parties themselves, but also to the entire region is the need to find a way to de-escalate tensions to put this back on a path towards a comprehensive and lasting peace. We have been engaged in that effort; we’ve been engaged in that effort bilaterally, we’ve been engaged in that effort multilaterally, and we’ll continue to do everything we can as the United States directly with the parties, through multilateral institutions and groupings, to advance that cause. It is our hope that other countries will send precisely the same message, but I’m not in a position to speak to the messages that other countries are sending,” Price said when asked to comment on Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan’s trip to Turkey and its implications particularly for the peace efforts in the region.
Asked to comment on the “earthquake diplomacy” in terms of Armenia and Turkey not having a relationship before, Price said: “Well, we certainly welcome countries around the world stepping up and showing up for the people of Türkiye, for the people of Syria who have been devastated by these massive earthquakes that struck on February 6th. A number of countries have demonstrated a generosity of spirit that will be necessary if we are going to be able to address the full consequences and implications of these massive earthquakes. The United States has attempted to lead by example. So far, we have already contributed or announced $85 million in support from the U.S. Government to the response in Türkiye and in Syria. The Secretary, as Matt just alluded to, will have an opportunity to travel to Türkiye in the coming days, he’ll have an opportunity while there to witness some of what the U.S. Government is doing, and I think he’ll also be in a position to speak to what more the United States will be prepared to do for our Turkish allies and for the people of Syria in the days to come.”