The issue was understood to be high on the agenda of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s meeting with Toivo Klaar, the EU’s special envoy to the South Caucasus. According to an Armenian government statement, Klaar reaffirmed EU support for “the agreement to launch the delimitation process on the basis of the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration” signed by newly independent former Soviet republics. The latter thus recognized each other’s Soviet-era borders.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian, who personally negotiated the border deal with Azerbaijani officials on Friday, met with the U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, Kristina Kvien. Grigorian’s office said they discussed “the latest developments in the process of delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” It gave no details.
The deal commits Armenia to making unilateral territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. It has triggered angry protests by residents of border villages in Armenia’s northern Tavush region that will be seriously affected by it. The Armenian opposition has also strongly condemned it.
In a weekend tweet, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the deal as “an important step towards concluding a durable and dignified peace agreement” between Yerevan and Baku. He emphasized the fact that the two sides agreed to use the 1991 declaration as the basis for the border delimitation.