Lavrov says when Moscow told Baku that Nagorno-Karabakh status issue was settled

Documents between Moscow, Yerevan and Baku signed in November 2020 and in subsequent years defined the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh as the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping troops. Besides, the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed that negotiations on the status issue should still be conducted to reach a final settlement of the issue. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this in a press conference on the outcomes of Russian diplomacy in 2023.

“And how great was our surprise when in the autumn of 2022, in Prague, at the meeting organized by Macron and Michel between Armenia and Azerbaijan, they signed a document stating that Yerevan and Baku recognized each other’s territorial integrity… that is, Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. We did not know that such a statement had been prepared, and when we heard it, we made our conclusions and informed Baku that the status issue was settled, by the Armenian prime minister himself,” Lavrov said.