The statement came ahead of the fifth anniversary of the November 2020 ceasefire agreement between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, which ended six weeks of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. The ministry recalled that Russia’s peacekeeping mission in the region — deployed after the ceasefire — operated until June 2024, “making an indispensable contribution to stabilizing the situation and ensuring security in the region, at the cost of our soldiers’ lives.”
Approximately 2,000 Russian troops were stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh, but their presence did not prevent Azerbaijan from regaining control of the region in September 2023. The offensive prompted the mass exodus of the local Armenian population into Armenia.
Following Russia’s withdrawal, both Armenia and Azerbaijan shifted away from Moscow-led peace efforts, first turning to Western mediation and later engaging in direct talks. Those talks led to a landmark border delineation agreement in 2024, marking the demarcation of the first section of their shared border. The two sides pledged to continue the process.
In August 2025, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev witnessed their foreign ministers initial a peace agreement at the White House in Washington in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump also signed as a witness to an Armenian-Azerbaijani declaration committing Armenia to ensure “unimpeded connectivity” between mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenian territory, with reciprocal benefits for Armenia. The United States is to oversee the project, dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
In its latest statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry highlighted several key documents derived from the 2020 ceasefire, including the decision of the January 11, 2021 Moscow summit initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin to establish a Trilateral Working Group (TWG) tasked with unblocking regional economic and transport links. The ministry said the TWG “accomplished extensive work” in developing the legal and technical framework for transport routes between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The ministry also referred to 2021 and 2022 agreements regarding border delimitation and demarcation activities and drafting of a peace treaty between the two countries, calling these four top-level documents “a roadmap for the peace process.”
“The agreements remain valid and relevant. The important foundations built in the trilateral format are being actively utilized by the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides, including in their direct dialogue,” the statement said, adding that Moscow welcomes the initialing in Washington in August of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Baku and Yerevan “still have much to do to make the normalization of their bilateral relations irreversible.”
“This includes signing a peace treaty, restoring transport and economic links in the interests of all South Caucasus countries and their immediate neighbors, completing a fair process of border delimitation and demarcation, and establishing effective civil society contacts,” it said.
“Russia is ready to continue providing comprehensive assistance in all areas to its Azerbaijani and Armenian partners,” the statement concluded, noting that this includes cooperation within the 3+3 Regional Cooperation Platform involving Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Iran, and Türkiye.