Official: Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia to have further favourable ties

Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs Leonid Kalashnikov has spoken about the peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and Russia’s role in the process.

“I think that Armenia and Azerbaijan are really about to sign a peace agreement. The developments which ultimately led to the current situation were correct. Only three regional neighbouring countries, namely, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, had to negotiate. I have always talked about this. I have never really believed in the OSCE Minsk Contact Group dealing with the Karabakh issue, in which besides Russia, the co-chairs were also the US and France. They didn’t lift a finger,” he told the Armenian media, Caliber.Az reports.

Kalashnikov emphasised that everything resulted in a tripartite agreement, although this could have been achieved without military actions.

He is confident that it is beneficial for Armenia to become more communicative right now, when it surrendered Karabakh, and “there is no point in pounding the table with your fist now”.

“It is necessary to get the most privileges out of this. This also applies to good neighbourliness with Azerbaijan and Türkiye. Armenia has no other borders. A peace treaty is certainly a good decision. For example, Japan and Russia don’t have such a peace treaty. It is okay. It is up to Japan. However, it is worth thinking about making some corridors that are economically beneficial, especially for neighbouring countries. This is also beneficial for Russia, because we can open a corridor to the south through those corridors and come to an agreement with Georgia. In the end, the situation is quite favourable,” Kalashnikov added.