Question.  On April 2, during a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Stephane Sejourne spoke about the need and developments to ensure stability in the South Caucasus, Armenia's real intention to avoid escalation, and also expressed concern about possible threats to Armenia's territorial integrity. Some countries do not consider this understanding of France useful from the point of view of regional stability. How will you comment?

Answer. We believe that the statement of the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France on April 2 and the goals and important contribution of France's involvement in the process of establishing peace in the region are known to all partners. There are many examples of this both in the form of bilateral partnership with Armenia and on regional and multilateral platforms.

In this context, we can particularly mention the quadrilateral meeting held in October 2022 in Prague within the framework of the European Political Community, during which the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan reaffirmed their commitment to the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration. By the way, the Prague meeting and the Alma-Ata declaration were also mentioned in the communication released by the office of the Azerbaijani President regarding the telephone conversation held yesterday with the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

We also value the contribution of France as a member of the European Union. The EU mission has been monitoring the interstate border between Armenia and Azerbaijan since October 2022, deployed after the same Prague meeting, and has made relevant communications in recent days. We believe that activities and assessments of the Mission in line with its mandate should be taken into account, including while developing the positions of all EU member states.