Armenia's Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with Igor Khovaev, the Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, on March 28.

The sides examined the situation arising from “Azerbaijan's breach of the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact” and the incursion into the hamlet of Parukh/Farrukh in the Russian Federation peacekeeping contingent's area of responsibility, which began on March 24. They discussed various Azerbaijani operations intended at "inducing a humanitarian catastrophe in the Karabakh region by targeting civilians and subjecting them to ethnic cleansing". The importance of returning Azerbaijani armed forces troops to their March 23 beginning locations was emphasised.

Minister Mirzoyan addressed the Armenian perspective on initiating discussions on a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan under the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. The relevance of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-full-fledged Chairmanship's activity was underscored.

In January, Russia was concerned that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will not be able to visit Nagorno-Karabakh. At an online briefing, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, stated.

"We are concerned that the Co-Chairs have not yet been able to visit the region, to get acquainted with the situation, to outline concrete measures to assist the parties in establishing contacts between citizens, to resolve humanitarian issues," Lukashevich said.

Earlier, President Ilham Aliyev proclaimed the crisis concluded, adding that the mediation mechanism has no further role in the region.

Following Aliyev's comments, the OSCE's current chairperson expressed its full support for the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

“The Polish Chairmanship is not in the position to comment on the public statements of the President of Azerbaijan. We reiterate our full support and appreciation for the work of the OSCE Minsk Group, its Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative of the Polish OSCE Chair-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk,” the Polish OSCE Chairmanship told.

Armenia satisfied with Minsk Group Co-Chair countries delivering clear assessment of last escalation in the Karabakh region

Armenia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pleased that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair nations have provided a clear assessment of the recent escalation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, noting that it is the result of Azerbaijani army movement.

The Russian Federation's Ministry of Defence has encouraged the Azerbaijani side to evacuate its military forces. The Azerbaijani side has evacuated their soldiers from the Farrukh/Parukh hamlet in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a news release published by the Russian Defence Ministry on March 27.

“Nevertheless, we are compelled to note that the incursion of Azerbaijani units into Nagorno-Karabakh in the area of ​​responsibility of the Russian Federation’s peacekeeping contingent is ongoing, as shown in the attached maps.

We expect that the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh will take concrete measures to stem the incursion of Azerbaijani units into the area of peacekeepers’ ​​responsibility and to withdraw the Azerbaijani armed forces. We consider it important to conduct a proper investigation into the actions of the peacekeeping contingent during this entire period of the incursion of Azerbaijani units and answer a number of questions,” Foreign Ministry stated.

“The map describing the situation on March 24, 2022, clearly shows that there are no Azerbaijani military bases in the area of ​​responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh. The map indicating the situation at 9 a.m. on March 28, 2022, shows that Azerbaijani military bases are deployed in the area of ​​responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh.”