A slipup, a diplomatic ploy, or a provocation? Following Lavrov's Yerevan press conference

It never happened before, and now it happened again. This quote by Chernomyrdin (Russian Prime Minister from 1992 to 1998, known for his absurd statements) came to mind immediately after reading the speeches made at the joint press conference of Russian and Armenian Foreign Ministers in Yerevan today. To recall, Sergey Lavrov is in Armenia on a working visit - the head of Russian diplomacy arrived in the country of stones exactly after his visit to Türkiye. 

If we take a closer look or rather if we listen more attentively, then, taking into account the experience of the speaker, we will get not Chernomyrdin's quote but elementary provocation. A provocation directed against the territorial integrity of its ally (remember February 22) - Azerbaijan.

"The Russian military considers the situation around the settlement of Farrukh in Nagorno-Karabakh as a priority. As for the situation, the Russian military, and our Armenian friends are well aware of this, and keep it as one of their priorities. There are already some results on the ground in terms of de-escalation of this situation," Lavrov said, adding that "this issue will be considered and solved as part of the delimitation works".

Everything is more or less clear with the delimitation - Azerbaijan and Armenia established relevant commissions headed by the vice-premiers of the two countries, which have already held two meetings - in the Armenian-Azerbaijani borderland and in Moscow. These commissions will work out the definition of the general position and direction of the state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia after which, we want to believe, the next stage of border definition will begin - its drawing on the ground (demarcation). That is, the delimitation is between Azerbaijan and Armenia, two neighbouring states that have been in conflict for more than three decades. But what does the settlement of Farrukh in the Khojaly district of Azerbaijan have to do with this process?

Therefore, the statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that issues related to the Farrukh settlement will be resolved within the framework of border demarcation and delimitation is surprising. It is a fact that the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan is not directly related to the process of determination of borders, this territory is not disputed, and it is not the object of negotiations of the relevant commissions. Farrukh is Azerbaijan, and no one defines the border there. In March this year, there was some clarification of the positions by the Azerbaijani military, but this has nothing to do with the issue of borders, and Lavrov knows this very well.

On the other hand, as a result of the demarcation and delimitation, any opportunities for the claims of the Republic of Armenia to the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan will be finally and irrevocably removed - perhaps that is what the Russian foreign minister had in mind. But most likely, he simply chose the most incomprehensible wording so that no one understood anything in the end. An old diplomatic ploy? A Chernomyrdin-like slipup? Or a provocation? We think that very soon we will know the right answer to these questions.