MOSCOW (RFE/RL) — Prime Minister Nikol has misrepresented the proposals to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh jointly made by Russia, the United States and France, according to a senior Russian diplomat.
Igor Popov, the Russian co-chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, on January 14 specifically denied Pashinyan’s claims that the three mediating powers pressured the Armenian side to give seven districts around Karabakh back to Azerbaijan and offered it nothing in return.
Pashinyan repeatedly criticized their peace proposals during and after the recent war with Azerbaijan. He dismissed critics’ arguments that he could have prevented the disastrous war by accepting the proposals based on the so-called Madrid Principles of a Karabakh settlement, which were first put forward by the U.S., Russian and French mediators in 2007.
In a January 4 article, Pashinyan claimed that the most recent version of the peace plan drafted by Russia and backed by the two other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group amounted to a proposed “surrender of lands” to Azerbaijan “in return for nothing.” He said it left open the key question of Karabakh’s status.
Popov bluntly denied that in written comments posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website on Wednesday. He argued that under the Minsk Group plan Karabakh’s population would be able to determine the disputed territory’s internationally recognized status in a future legally binding referendum.
Popov also stressed that the plan tied Armenian withdrawal from two of the seven districts, Lachin and Kelbajar, to the determination of Karabakh’s status.
