Moscow said that it was ready to explore “common grounds” between Armenia and Turkey as they advance the process of normalizing relations.
The Russian foreign ministry made the announcement after a telephone conversation between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and Ruben Rubinyan, Armenia’s special envoy on normalization of relations between Yerevan and Ankara.
The Russian foreign ministry said that Rubinyan briefed Galuzin on “the latest developments in the sphere of normalization between Armenia and Turkey.”
“The Russian side confirmed its readiness to continue to facilitate the search for common ground between Yerevan and Ankara because the improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations is an important factor of stability and sustainable development in the South Caucasus,” the Russian foreign ministry said. “The exchange of views took place in a constructive atmosphere,” added the statement.
The readout of the call from the Armenian parliament, where Rubinyan serves as Vice Speaker, was much shorter, simply saying that the two discussed Russian-Armenian relations and “regional developments.”
The conversation came a week after Rubinyan met with his Turkish counterpart, Serdar Kilic, on the sidelines of an international forum in Antalya, Turkey, where the foreign ministers of the two countries, Hakan Fidan and Ararat Mirzoyan, also held separate talks.
Neither side reported further progress toward normalizing relations, which Ankara continues to link to more Armenian concessions to Azerbaijan. Rubinyan said on Monday that Ankara is still dragging its feet over the implementation of a July 2022 agreement to open the Turkish-Armenian border to citizens of third states.
