IRIA News

Putin-mediated Sochi talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan resulted in both sides agreeing not to use force and sticking to earlier peace agreements, but failed to provide any substantial breakthrough.

A meeting between the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan took place on October 31, 2022. The meeting aimed to achieve a settlement on the longstanding dispute between Baku and Yerevan, however, no major breakthrough was reported from any side.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at his Black Sea residence in Sochi. The meeting aimed to broker a settlement between the two leaders after violent clashes resulted in hundreds of deaths in the past few months and reassert Kremlin’s role as a regional leader and mediator.

Russian state-owned news agency RIA quoted a statement saying the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia “agreed to refrain from the use of force or threatening force, to discuss and resolve all problematic questions solely on the basis of mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.”

The general director of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrey Kortunov released a statement regarding the meeting which said that the meeting saw no major breakthrough. He explained that “it is hard to say there has been any serious breakthrough here, but I would like to hope that some kind of progress can be achieved in the end. At least, as far as humanitarian decisions, prevention of risks of an escalation, and preservation of this territory’s ethnic composition are concerned.”

According to a statement released by the Kremlin, President Putin thanked the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan “for agreeing to come to Russia, to Sochi, for this discussion.”

The Russian president highlighted that “we will continue this dialogue and the search for solutions with a view to ending this long-standing conflict.” Putin added, “Russia will do everything it can to reach a final and comprehensive agreement.”

Foreign ministers from Azerbaijan and Armenia also met separately in Sochi on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that “The Presidents and the Prime Minister are having a trilateral conversation. The Foreign Ministers are talking separately.”

During the two meetings, the Azerbaijani side agreed to initiate a peace treaty with Armenia under the condition that borders between the two countries should remain as they had been described during the Soviet era. The Azerbaijani side raised the issue of unblocking communications in the region, including reopening of the Zangezur corridor, which should connect mainland Azerbaijan with the Nakhichevan region through the Armenian territory.

The Armenian side, however, rejected the proposal to allow a corridor through its territory, which stalled the negotiation talks. In addition, Yerevan also stated that “Azerbaijani forces will leave the occupied Armenian territories,” taken during the hostile conflicts of 2021 and 2022, and return to their initial positions.

The two sides found a consensus on borders position which they said should be based on the 1991 Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) founding documents. Armenian Prime Minister declared his readiness to commence the work on delimitation and demarcation of the borders.

The Putin-mediated trilateral meeting between Russia Armenia and Azerbaijan comes only a few days after European Union decided to deploy 40 monitoring experts along the Armenian side of the international border with Azerbaijan.

The conflict between the two countries has resulted in hundreds of deaths so far. The latest episode of fighting came on September 13 when more than 100 soldiers died from both sides. Russia was the first country to respond to the recent conflict and came forward to mediate between the two ex-Soviet republics. Kremlin claims that Russian intervention and a call between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered a ceasefire between the two sides during the September conflict.