Nagorno-Karabakh was not part of Azerbaijan when Almaty declaration  was signed - Armen Ashotyan

ArmInfo. The Almaty declaration must not be the cornerstone for the settlement of  Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, especially in the context of the  Nagorno-Karabakh problem, Armen Ashotyan, Vice-Chairman of the  Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), stated as he commented on Russian  FM Sergey Lavrov's statement on the Artsakh peace process yesterday. 

Azerbaijan's military aggression can by no means be justified, as  territorial integrity is only one of the fundamental principles put  forward by the OSCE MG co-chairs, including Russia. He recalls two  other principles - nonuse of force or threat of force and the Artsakh  people's right to self-determination - which are being disregarded  now. 

"As regards the rejection of proposals by the so-called former  authorities, I would like to remind [Mr Lavrov] that in 2008-2018  none of the OSCE MG co-chairing countries publicly spoke of Armenia's  counterproductive position on the peace process. Moreover, on April  22, 2016, the very same Russian foreign minister stated that 'Armenia  did not reject the Kazan document'," Mr Ashotyan said.

"Yes, as we have repeatedly insisted, the Almaty declaration must not  be the cornerstone for the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani  relations, especially in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.  However, Mr Lavrov is erroneously interpreting the Almaty  declaration, as, under the law of the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh  was not part of Azerbaijan when the declaration was signed," Mr  Ashotyan wrote. 

On February 2, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with  Russia 24 and RIA News that Azerbaijan regained its territories that  had been occupied by Armenia for years. 

Lavrov mentioned that the request to deploy a Collective Security  Treaty Organization (CSTO) mission to the border between Armenia and  Azerbaijan arrived in September 2022, when there was an "outburst of  violence resulting in the death of around 300 people." The plan was  not implemented, however, as the Armenian side demanded that the  document "condemned Azerbaijan's actions categorically", which the  CSTO members were not ready to do. According to Lavrov, Russia had  been attempting to resolve the issue politically for a long time, but  Armenia was unwilling to give up the territories it had occupied  around Nagorno-Karabakh. He noted that "Azerbaijan regained the lands  which belonged to them." 

Furthermore, Lavrov implied that Moscow is struggling to decide what  to do next, as Yerevan and Baku, with the European Union's mediation,  agreed to a document on the readiness to sign a peace treaty in  accordance with the Almaty Declaration of 1991. According to the  Declaration, the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan would follow  the administrative boundaries of the Soviet Union and its republics,  including the Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs (with the  Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within it).