Armenia ready to implement Russia’s peace plan – PM

After a longstanding conflict, the country reportedly wants to sign a treaty with Azerbaijan before 2023

Armenia is ready to work on establishing relations with its rival and neighbor, Azerbaijan, based on principles proposed by Moscow, Prime Minister Nicol Pashinyan revealed on Friday. A trilateral summit involving the countries will be held in the Russian city of Sochi next week, the Kremlin announced.

Pashinyan said in a tweet that Yerevan was prepared to confirm its stance during the negotiations in Sochi on Monday.

The upcoming talks will focus on fostering stability and security in the Transcaucasus. Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, and the Armenian PM will also discuss the implementation of trilateral agreements signed earlier, in 2020 and 2021. The Kremlin has confirmed that the summit was initiated by Moscow. 

“Honestly, I want [the peace agreement] to be signed by the end of the year,” Pashinyan claimed, as cited by Russian news agency TASS, adding that the government would do everything it can for this plan to be “realistic.” 

Earlier on Friday, speaking at the extraordinary session of the Collective Security Treaty Organization via video link, Putin stated that Russia “cannot stand aside from problems” and tensions between Yerevan and Baku. Moscow is always ready to support their “peaceful settlement.” 

Armenia and Azerbaijan have historically been at odds over numerous issues, with the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, de jure Azerbaijan, populated by ethnic Armenians, being the key one. In 2020, the two nations fought a 44-day war over the territory, which ended with a Russian-brokered truce, ceding to Baku some areas previously controlled by Armenian-backed troops and the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to observe the agreement.

Tensions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border escalated again in September this year, when dozens of people, both civilian and military personnel, were reportedly killed, with the parties of the conflict blaming the violence on each other.