The mission of the OSCE Minsk Group to resolve the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in failure. It never managed to achieve peace between the parties to the conflict, could not force the aggressor to abandon expansion, and thus completely discredited itself. But it seems that Yerevan cannot come to terms with the fact that the OSCE Minsk Group, which for 30 years carried out imitation and unsuccessful ‘mediation’ between Baku and Yerevan and actually contributed to the continuation of the occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan, no longer exists. The Armenian media cover the visit of the former co-chairs with the headline “’Co-Chair of the Minsk Group…’ and so on.

Faktyoxla Lab. has tried to figure out how justified the mention of the Minsk Group by the Armenian media and the public is.

For example, the Armenian media report that “Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received the American Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Andrew Schofer, the press service of the Prime Minister reported. The Prime Minister noted the important role of the United States as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group and welcomed the visit of Andrew Schofer, which will provide an opportunity to discuss the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the ongoing processes in this context. The sides stressed the role of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship in the comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Humanitarian issues were touched upon, as well as the possibility of starting negotiations with Azerbaijan on a peace agreement. In this regard, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia stressed the mediating role of the co-chairing and co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group.”

It was earlier reported that “Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today received French Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Stéphane Visconti. As reported the press service of the Government of Armenia, the interlocutors discussed the paths for a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and, in this context, underscored the importance of the activities of the Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group.”

The same applies to Russia. Although spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated that from now on, Russia, in the person of Ambassador Igor Khovaev, will “contribute to the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia” and the conduct of peace negotiations between them, the Armenian media again noted that “at the end of March, the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovaev arrived in Armenia.”

Interestingly, the French themselves represented Brice Roquefeuil as a special representative of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On Twitter page of the US State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Andrew Schofer is shown as the US State Department’s Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations.

What happened to the OSCE Minsk Group?

The fact is that on February 24 of this year, Washington and Paris curtailed all contacts with Moscow within the ‘troika’ of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. In this regard, Ambassador-at-Large Igor Khovaev will continue his work in a new capacity, namely, Special Representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation on promoting the normalization of relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia. The subject of the preparation of a peace treaty will be in the center of his attention.

Even Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke about the senselessness of the Minsk Group in early April during a press conference following a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan. Lavrov then criticized the US and France for refusing to participate in the OSCE Minsk talks on Nagorno Karabakh due to the Russia-Ukraine war, accusing the two countries of "sacrificing the Nagorno Karabakh settlement" and other settlements, including those in the Middle East, to geopolitical ambitions.

“I don’t know what the future fate of the Minsk Group will be, since our so-called French and American partners in this group, in a Russophobic frenzy, in an effort to cancel everything and everything related to the Russian Federation, canceled the trio of co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, saying that  they will not be communicating with us in this format. This is their right, if they are ready to sacrifice the interests of the settlement in Karabakh and in the Transcaucasus in general, if they are ready to sacrifice the interests of the Armenian side in this case, this is their choice,” Lavrov said.

According to many experts, the liquidation of the OSCE Minsk Group will not only advance the process of signing a peace treaty and demarcation of the border, but will also help start concrete work directly on the ground.

That is, we will talk about the fact that attention will now be paid not so much to diplomatic nuances, traditions, protocols and regulations, but to direct work for a specific result.

And this result is indicated. First of all, transport logistics corridors should be launched, opening up new opportunities for the growth of trade turnover and the development of industry in the South Caucasus. All parties are now interested in this: Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey. When there are specifics, diplomatic issues should be resolved faster.

So, in Armenia they mention the OSCE Minsk Group in vain and thereby mislead their public. If the co-chairs had once taken the unshakable principles of international law and the UN Charter on territorial integrity and inviolability of borders as the basis of their activities, and showed that they would not tolerate any maneuvers and interpretations in this matter, then the situation with this organization would certainly have been different.