Legality of the statement on Karabakh

1 Armenia

The Armenian parliament refused to include in the daily agenda the issue of legality and compliance with the laws of Armenia the joint statement of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan from 9th of November regarding Nagorno-Karabakh — the ’TASS’ news agency reported. The speaker of the Armenian parliament, Ararat Mirzoyan, stated that 40 deputies voted ’for’ the inclusion of the issue in the agenda, and 73 deputies voted ’against’. The issue of including this topic on the agenda was initiated by the opposition political party ’Enlightened Armenia’. The ruling political party ’My Step’, which currently controls 84 out of 132 seats in the parliament, has opposed such idea. ’My Step’ insisted that the parliament doesn’t have the right to discuss such issue.

2 Nagorno-Karabakh

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Russian peacekeepers escorted an another convoy of refugees who returned to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia. Almost 50,000 refugees have returned to their homes so far. It was reported that over the past day, 189 refugees were delivered by buses from Yerevan to Stepanakert. «A total of 49,827 refugees have returned to Nagorno-Karabakh» — the message concluded.

3 Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed during a telephone conversation the future work of the Russian-Turkish monitoring center in Nagorno-Karabakh — the press service of the Azerbaijani president reported on Saturday. «The heads of states discussed the start of the work of the joint Russian-Turkish monitoring center in Agdam. They noted that the activities of the center will help to ensure a long-term peace» — the message concluded. On 15th of January the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that 60 soldiers from Russia and Turkey will serve in the aforementioned center.

4 China — Russia

«The exit of Russia from the ’Open Skies Treaty’ was inevitable due to the unwillingness to cooperate on the part of the USA» — the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying stated during a briefing. «The direct reason that Moscow initiated the exit procedure was the one-sided exit of the USA from the treaty, despite the international position. That act severely undermined the trust between the armed forces of the two countries, as well as the transparency between the parties» — Hua Chunying explained and added that «Russia tried to preserve the treaty, but didn’t receive any positive reaction from the USA or the other parties of the treaty». On Friday the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia is leaving the ’Open Skies Treaty’.

5 Russia

During a news conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2020, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that the actions of the USA and their allies, which are aimed at undermining of the international security, cause deep concerns to Russia. He reminded that 2020 has the 75th anniversary of the UN, and the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. «During these anniversaries, we are deeply concerned about the on-going shameless actions of the USA and most of their Western allies, which are aimed at undermining of the structure of the international life, based on the UN — on the charter, and on the structure of the organization. In general terms — they are trying to leave the classic forms and the norms of the international law for the sake of the so-called ’rule-based’ world order» — Lavrov explained. He noted that within the framework of those actions — some exclusive mechanisms, groups of like-minded people are being created outside the UN. The solutions of those people are being imposed on all participants of the international relations. “And one of the manifestations of that kind of rules, on which the West is trying to build a new world order, is the concept of ’multilateralism’, which our German and French colleagues started to push over the past 2 years. The descriptions of that concept, which are contained in the public speeches of the heads of the foreign ministries of Germany and France, openly state that there is an attempt to present the EU and everything that the EU does in terms of the rule-making as an ideal form of the foreign policy» — Sergei Lavrov concluded.

6 Afghanistan

The Afghan news agency «Khaama Press» reported that the US Embassy in Kabul warned of the likelihood of an increase in the terrorist attacks, and urged the American citizens in Afghanistan to leave the country immediately. The terrorist attacks, kidnapping, and other serious criminal offenses have increased all over Afghanistan in the recent weeks. «Hotels, residential complexes, international organizations, embassies, and other places often visited by the foreigners, including Americans, are under particular threat» — the US embassy stated in a press release. On Friday, the US Department of Defense announced the reduction of the US military contingent in Afghanistan down to 2,500 servicemen. By May of 2020 Washington plans to pull all the remaining military personnel. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.