Russia’s foreign ministry on Friday it has extended an invitation to Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to take part in peace talks with Azerbaijan.
“Ararat Samvelovich Mirzoyan was invited to Moscow for consultations on issues of the peace treaty many times, starting from last September,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. “Among other things, that was discussed during bilateral contacts at various levels. The last signal was sent to Yerevan literally a few days ago.”
Russian officials have been urging Yerevan to attend peace talks mediated by Moscow as the tug-of-war between the West and Russia intensifies. Azerbaijan has all but rebuffed European and American efforts to mediate peace talks, canceling scheduled meetings in Spain and Washington last fall.
Official Moscow has criticized Yerevan’s efforts to seek Western mediation for the talks, warning, at times, that the European Union and the United States do not have the best interests of Armenia and are using the conflict to create a rift between Russia and Armenia.
During a press conference earlier this week, Mirzoyan said that there has been a “regression” by Baku in resuming peace talks. He added that for Yerevan the venue of the talks was not important, as long as the sides resume talks for a peace treaty.
Zakharova’s statement on Friday suggests that Yerevan has not responded to Moscow offer to host talks, which last week Russian Foreign Minster Sergey Lavrov claimed were agreed to by Baku.
The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson also emphasized that Moscow continues to remain Yerevan’s partner.
She said Russia has had “a decisive contribution in the cessation of hostilities—in particular in the fall of 2020—and has had a more decisive contribution in an even more difficult situation—one might even say, in preventing the defeat of Armenia.”