On 1 June, Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan stated that the meetings of the trilateral working group on resuming transport links have been suspended at the moment.
“I have repeatedly stated that the work will yield results only if the background and the general situation are at least stable. In the current situation, considering the situation on the border, constructive work on this site is impossible, and therefore recently contacts were interrupted,” he stressed.
Grigoryan emphasised that the Armenian side has not discussed and would not discuss corridor logic issues and that it is impossible to discuss such issues. “If by saying corridor some people mean transport ways, it is one issue, but if by saying corridor they mean any circumstance relating to sovereignty, I again assure that it is excluded on the agenda of my discussions,” he added.
On 25 May, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said the date of the next meeting of the trilateral working group now depends on the authorities of Azerbaijan and Armenia. He expressed the hope that the "common sense" previously demonstrated by the parties will prevail, and then they will succeed in unblocking the links and creating opportunities for railway and road traffic between Azerbaijan and Armenia and between Russia and Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan.
In the meantime, Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited France where he met with the country’s President Emmanuel Macron. During the meeting, Macron said that France would contribute to the restoration of peace and the development of dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “As [a] co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, together with Russia and the United States, France intends to do everything to achieve de-escalation and restoration of dialogue, including direct, between the parties,” the French leader said. He stressed that “in connection with the recent events on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, its delimitation should be carried out only through negotiations and without the use of force.”
Macron noted that the “Azerbaijani troops must leave the territory of Armenia,” that the parties must return to the positions before 11 May, as well as releasing all the prisoners and lifting restrictions on access for humanitarian organisations. “We stand in solidarity with Armenia, and we will continue to do so,” he added.
