Armenia says it is ready to sign peace agreement with Azerbaijan

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan shake hands following their meeting in Moscow on Jan. 21, 2025. (Alexander Nemenov / Pool Photo via AP)

MOSCOW — Armenia’s Foreign ministry said on Thursday that a draft peace agreement with Azerbaijan had been finalized from its side and that it was ready to discuss a date and location to sign a final deal.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s, when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly Armenian population at the time, broke away from Baku with Yerevan’s support.

In September 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh by force, prompting almost all of the territory’s 100,000 Armenians to flee to Armenia.

Both sides have long said they want to sign a treaty to end the long-running conflict but have wrangled over the detail of what it might look like for years.

“The peace agreement is ready for signing. The Republic of Armenia is ready to start consultations with the Republic of Azerbaijan on the date and place of signing the agreement,” Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva; Editing by Andrew Osborn)