Maria Zakharova comments on question on ethnic cleansing and  Armenians return to Artsakh

ArmInfo. During a weekly briefing on August 28, Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, addressed a question from an Armenian journalist regarding the ethnic cleansing carried out by Azerbaijani authorities against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023 and the return of Armenians to Artsakh.

 "Sincerely, I think we've already spoken with you about ethnic cleansing and I'm wondering if international groups respected in Armenia have reached any conclusions on the subject.  Even though we discussed this with you  six months ago, you were unable to provide me with a single decision or assessment made by international organizations or experts working in an international organization on ethnic cleansing. If you have one, please, share it with me or give some relevant assessments," she said.

When asked about how Moscow views the solution to the issue of the return of the Armenian population to their historical homeland, to Nagorno-Karabakh, Zakharova wondered about "How does Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Vovaevich Pashinyan see it?" "Is there a detailed program on this matter? For instance, I saw a program published by the Azerbaijani side regarding the proposal to return the population, you can call it differently, the original population to Nagorno-Karabakh, who lived there until recently, the Armenian population. The Azerbaijani side has presented such a program. I saw it. If there is a program made by the Prime Minister of Armenia, I would be happy to look at it and then I will comment. Why are you asking a representative of another state about the perspectives? We (Russia) are encouraging the parties to address this issue, but as you know, it is challenging to do so without implementing the agreements that were reached, "said the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.