Russian Foreign Ministry against Azerbaijan's interpretations of results of St. Petersburg meeting

Official Spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova urged to be guided by the original document adopted at the three-sided meeting of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan's presidents in Saint Petersburg and not by the statements attempting to interpret the results of the meeting, she made the statement at the today's briefing commenting on the statement made by Novruz Mammadov, Deputy Head of the Azerbaijani President's Administration, that the sides have agreed on gradual settlement of the conflict. 

According to the Russian foreign ministry's spokesperson this is an attempt of the Azerbaijani side to interpret the reached agreements. "As is known, the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan have made a trilateral statement to reaffirm the agreements concluded at the latest Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Vienna on May 16, geared to stabilizing the situation in the area of the conflict," Zakharova said in reply to a question from TASS.  "The statement is available on all official websites," she said. "I would ask one and all - I believe this is a collective request - to be guided by the original of the statement, and not the unseemly attempts to interpret the results of the meeting", TASS quotes Zakharova as saying. 

It was earlier informed that Novruz Mammadov, Deputy Head of the Azerbaijani President's Administration, said in an interview with ANS that during the meeting in St. Petersburg, the parties agreed to settle the Karabakh conflict stage by stage. "The preference was given to stage-by-stage settlement of the conflict. That is to say, the conflict should be resolved stage by stage: first, the troops should be withdrawn from five districts; second, the troops should be withdrawn from two more districts and the corridor should be defined. Then Nagorno- Karabakh's status should be determined," Mammadov says.  The Armenian side has refuted this information.

To recall, the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in Saint Petersburg on June 20 2016 at the behest of Vladimir Putin.  Following the consultations, the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan adopted a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to normalizing the situation on the line of contact and giving their approval to an increase in the number of OSCE observers working in the conflict zone. The joint statement also expresses the parties' commitment to putting in place the conditions required for steady progress in negotiations on a political settlement to the conflict.  The presidents made a point of their regular contacts on Karabakh and agree to continue them in such format as addition to the efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who were invited to the final stage of the meeting in St. Petersburg.