On October 25, Toivo Klaar, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia, announced that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will not meet in Brussels by the end of this month with the mediation of the President of the Council of the European Union Charles Michel.

The EU special representative cited the lack of time of the two countries' leaders as the reason. "Our goal is for the Armenians of Karabakh to return to their homes," he said. Underlining the meeting in Granada, where Aliyev did not participate, he noted, "We are now trying to organize a meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev in Brussels. Despite the slow process, we believe that the result will be the signing of the document."

As for the regional format "3+3" (Iran, Russia, Turkey + Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia), within the framework of which the foreign ministers of six countries met in Tehran recently, Klaar said that although it is not a solution to the problem, it can be helpful.

Russia invites Armenia and Azerbaijan to Moscow

On the same day, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow continues its dialog with Baku and Yerevan to help them settle the conflict, but there are no significant advances yet.

"Not yet. There is no exact understanding. We are continuing our contacts," he said in response to a question about whether there was any progress on the Russian proposal to use the Moscow platform to prepare a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Ararat Mirzoyan comments on the canceled meeting

At a joint press conference with his Canadian counterpart Mélanie Joly in Yerevan on October 25, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that the meeting in Brussels will not take place due to the lack of time of the Azerbaijani President. "Obviously, it is the Azerbaijani president who has not found time for the meeting, as the Armenian side is ready for it even now," Mirzoyan noted.

At the same time, the Armenian Foreign Minister expressed hope that the problem is really in the timing and that it will be possible to work out a new date for the summit talks shortly. However, Yerevan has not received any proposals regarding this yet. "Armenia continues to be committed to the peace agenda," the minister assured.

Response from Nikol Pashinyan

During the governmental hour in the parliament on October 25, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that shortly, the Armenian side will try to clarify several working details with European partners.

"But there are details we will try to clarify to understand our further actions. We also have answers to several questions, but I would not like to rush with assessments," Pashinyan said. The Prime Minister noted that Armenia is ready to continue negotiations on the way to signing a peace agreement based on the principles elaborated in the joint statement following the results of the previous meeting in the trilateral Brussels format Pashinyan-Michel-Aliyev on July 15.

When asked how the choice of venue (Brussels or Moscow) could affect the course of the talks, Pashinyan said that the negotiations should move forward based on agreed principles, which should be further applied to the specific situation.