135. On 11 January 2021 at the proposal of the Russian Federation, Prime Minister Pashinyan and Presidents Putin and Aliyev signed a new Trilateral Statement, following the statement of 9-10 November 2020, which put an end to hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. This second statement was aimed at implementing paragraph 9 of the 9-10 November statement on the unblocking of all economic and transport links in the region. To this end, it provided for the establishment of a Tripartite Working Group headed by the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Republic of Armenia, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan, which was tasked with drawing up a list of the main areas of work stemming from paragraph 9 of the statement, setting rail and road communications as priorities. The Working Group has effectively started its work and has met eight times, the last time on 20 October 2021.

136. On 12 May 2021, Azerbaijani troops penetrated 3.5 kilometres into Armenian territory in two locations, one in the Syunik province and the other in the Gegharkunik province. The Azerbaijani Government pointed to the lack of clear border demarcation in this area and the fact that, according to some maps dating from the Soviet era, the localities concerned were located on Azerbaijani territory. At the time of printing the report, Azerbaijani troops had not withdrawn from these localities. Despite Russian mediation and the Russian Federation’s call for the acceleration of border delimitation and demarcation operations, the border areas between Armenia and Azerbaijan are now subject to incursions, capture of military personnelNote etc. On 22 October 2021, at the discussions of the Valdai Club, a Russian think tank, in Sochi, President Putin said that “the most important thing to do now is to finally settle the situation at the border” and that in order to do so, the General Staff of the Russian army had “the maps that show where the border between the Soviet republics [of Armenia and Azerbaijan] was in the Soviet period”.Note

137. On 22 April, the Monitoring Committee issued a statement on the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. It recalled, inter alia, that it had closely followed both the conflict and developments since the Trilateral Statement of 9 and 10 November 2020 and that the co-rapporteurs for Armenia and Azerbaijan had made regular joint statements on developments. It welcomed the progress made towards the implementation of the Trilateral Statement, but expressed concern about reports that not all persons detained in the context of the conflict had been exchanged. It further considered that both sides should strengthen their co-operation and communication in clearing areas that needed to be demined in order to ensure the safety of civilians. It also recalled that paragraph 8 of the Trilateral Statement clearly referred to the exchange of all detained persons, without distinction as to the status of these people assigned by one of the parties. It called on Azerbaijan to ensure that all Armenian detainees are released and handed over to the Armenian authorities without delay, drawing attention to the concerns expressed by the European Court of Human Rights regarding the 188 Armenians allegedly captured by Azerbaijan. Furthermore, it considered that the establishment of an independent international mission responsible for investigating the conflict and allegations of human rights and humanitarian law violations during the recent hostilities was essential to create an environment that is conducive to reconciliation and the establishment of genuine peace. It stated that cultural heritage was important to all parties to the conflict and that the urgent implementation of the necessary mechanisms for its protection and renovation was a priority. The Committee therefore charged its Sub-Committee on Conflicts between Council of Europe Member States to explore in more detail concrete mechanisms for resolving these two issues.

138. Finally, the committee called on both parties to constructively engage with the relevant international institutions, in particular the OSCE Minsk Group, with a view to fully implementing the Trilateral Statement, and to start the peace negotiations.

139. On 27 September 2021 the Assembly adopted Resolution 2391 (2021) and Recommendation 2209 (2021) “Humanitarian consequences of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan / Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”, the content of which fully supports the positions expressed by the Monitoring Committee on 22 April 2021.