BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 4. The Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova has once again put an Armenian journalist in his place, who has always asked inappropriate questions at the spokesperson's weekly briefings, Trend reports.
At the latest briefing, the journalist asked what Russia is doing to take former separatist "leaders" from Karabakh, to which Zakharova responded that it has nothing to do with Russia.
"Are you sure you've addressed the right recipient for your question? Is it necessary to take them? You seem to have everything mixed up. If you want to ask what Yerevan is doing to assist its citizens, as you mentioned, that's a question for the official representatives of the Armenian Foreign Ministry," she said. "If you want to ask what Russia is doing to provide assistance, perhaps we should first remember that the people you mentioned are citizens of Armenia. Some of them have renounced Russian citizenship, and some initially only had Armenian citizenship".
Then, the Armenian propagandist attempted to ask a question about a fictional "ethnic cleansing" in Karabakh, but Zakharova did not allow him to finish his "question", adding that making such declarations under the guise of a question is incorrect.
During the dialogue, it was revealed that this journalist doesn't recognize the legitimacy of the current government of Armenia, to which Zakharova responded that it would not make sense to answer his questions in that case.
In order to ensure the provisions of the Trilateral Statement [signed by Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Russian leaders following the 2020 second Karabakh war], suppression of large-scale provocations in Azerbaijan's Karabakh economic region, disarmament, and withdrawal of Armenian armed forces formations from the territories of Azerbaijan, localized anti-terrorist activities were carried out in the region.
Taking into account the appeal of the representatives of the Armenian population of Karabakh through the Russian peacekeeping contingent [temporarily stationed in Azerbaijan under the trilateral statement], an agreement was reached on September 20, 2023, at 13:00 (GMT+4) to cease anti-terrorist activities of a local nature under the following conditions: the formations of the armed forces of Armenia, Armenian illegal armed formations located in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region, lay down their weapons, leave their combat positions and military posts, and completely disarm; the formations of the armed forces of Armenia leave the territory of Azerbaijan; Armenian illegal armed groups are dissolved.
Recently, Azerbaijan has arrested a number of former "officials" of the separatist regime and their ringleader, including Arayik Harutyunyan, Bako Saakyan, Ruben Vardanyan, and others.