Armenia is "ready" to negotiate a trilateral deal with Russia and Azerbaijan that would extend the Russian peacekeeping mandate in Karabakh for up to 20 years, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Saturday.
"We want the Russian peacekeepers to continue their mission. I am ready to sign in Sochi a document about the extension of the mandate of the Russian peacekeepers for 10, 15 or 20 years," Pashinian said at a congress of his Civil Contract political party.
"I can make this proposal myself, but the Russian side should support it," Pashinian said.
On Friday, the Kremlin press service announced that the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia will hold a trilateral meeting in Russia's resort city of Sochi on Oct.31.
The Armenian prime minister noted that he cannot decide on the extension unilaterally because the agreement, under which the peacekeeping mission is organized, was signed by three parties – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.
However, he added, if Russia and Armenia put forward the idea together, they will have the majority.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, formerly known as Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
In the fall of 2020, over 44 days of clashes, Baku liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation, ending in a Moscow-brokered truce. The peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.
