Armenia's prime minister said on Wednesday that Yerevan intends to sign a peace deal with Baku by the end of the year after recent clashes on the border between the two ex-Soviet countries.
"Honestly, I want it (the peace agreement) to be signed before the end of this year. How realistic is this? I will answer this question this way: the government and I will do everything to make it realistic," Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said during an address to the Armenian parliament, Russian state-run news agency Tass reported.
The report also announced an extraordinary meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) initiated by Armenia to "discuss the situation on the border with Azerbaijan" and expects that it will be held in the near future.
"As you know, we appealed to the CSTO, and a decision was also made at a meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council, as a result of which the group arrived in Armenia and observed the situation on the ground. In the near future, we will initiate an extraordinary meeting of the CSTO Council to discuss this report. I hope that the meeting will take place as soon as possible," Pashinian is quoted as saying.
The report also said Pashinian confirmed that the trilateral meeting will take place on Oct. 31 in Sochi.
"There is an invitation from the president of Russia to hold a trilateral meeting in Sochi on Oct. 31. I confirmed my participation, I have no information about the consent of the President of Azerbaijan," Pashinian said.
The trilateral meeting, set to bring together the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, was initially confirmed by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to Russia for the next trilateral summit, where it is planned to discuss a whole range of trilateral and bilateral issues," Zakharova said in a statement on Telegram late on Monday.
The last meeting between Putin, Aliyev and Pashinian took place in Sochi on Nov. 26, 2021.
Relations between the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military illegally occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, with the Armenian Army attacking civilians and Azerbaijani forces, violating several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.
During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and around 300 settlements and villages that had been occupied by Armenia for almost 30 years.
The fighting ended with a Russian-brokered agreement on Nov. 10, 2020, which was seen as a victory for Azerbaijan and a defeat for Armenia.
However, the cease-fire has been broken several times since then.
After the conflict ended, Azerbaijan launched a massive reconstruction initiative in the liberated Karabakh region.