Russia's Response to Alen Simonian's Statements on the 'Lavrov Plan'

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has commented on the statements made by the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, Alen Simonian, regarding the 'Lavrov Plan.' According to the Russian agency, the 'Lavrov Plan' does not actually exist.

“The honorable Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Alen Simonian, during the mentioned conversation, referring to 'the opinion of the Armenian public,' stated that 'if someone in Armenia was planning to hand over something, there were several options for doing that, including the Lavrov Plan.' It is difficult to comment on something that does not exist in reality but is rather a figment of imagination. The 'Lavrov Plan' also belongs to such imaginary realities,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.

The Russian agency also emphasized that there can be no talk of 'surrender' since the discussion is about the phased resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the last variant of the program was delivered to the parties by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in June 2019. According to the document, it was proposed to return 5 regions to Azerbaijan in the first phase and 2 in the second, in mandatory connection with the determination of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Regarding the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, the proposals put on the negotiating table until the autumn of 2020 literally included the following: under the auspices of the UN or the OSCE, a nationwide referendum expressing the free will of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and having legally binding nature in accordance with norms and principles of international law,” the Russian Foreign Ministry disclosed.

“At the same time, the formulation of the question or questions put to the vote is not limited in any way, and any result will be respected,” they noted in the Foreign Ministry.

Speaker Alen Simonian's statement can be viewed in the video.